Memories of Sinnoh
by PeterPokefreak
Summary: Sinnoh, the Northern region, is a place of memory and history. The warnings of this past are equalled by the risk of the present, and powerful forces guide the necessary pieces into play. At risk of clichés, the fate of many lies in the hands of three. Sinnoh plot retelling with plentiful OCs, references, interpretations of characters, and general heroism.
1. Casting the Heroes

In the deep past - or is it the future? - Sinnoh was, is, and will be a place for history. In the entire Nation of Pokémon, it sits to the far north of the centrepoint, dutifully remembering the events of the other lands, both in and beyond the great Shield that protects the lands of the Nation. Among the people in the other major areas within that barrier, it was something of a proverb: "Did anything happen in Sinnoh lately?" "No, but they remember what happened in this place at this time." Perhaps it was crass and rude, but the people who said that before the war began more than ate their words, because those events swirled with Sinnoh at their core.

And standing in the face of those future fires stood a lone stone plate, and the talented young woman who could read the languages of the peoples who came before the formation of Sinnoh itself.

* * *

"Ash, please stop panicking," the lady stated, picking her way through the debris of a ruined temple on the Western edge of the region, a place called Tsukikage Island. Said to be the base of a group among the Michina civilization who worshipped a moon goddess, the historically-minded lady had had to investigate, and had discovered an encrypted calendar engraved upon the temple's altar.

Upon returning with a key to the codified language of the temple priests, she had discovered a shockingly accurate projection of future events, akin to the calendar of the Mayans in modern times. In the same fashion as this contemporary calendar, this ruin also featured a ticking time bomb.

"Ash, I told you, it doesn't give me any accurate time measurements," the woman told the communication pad in her hands, interrupting the incessant, and increasingly hysterical, monologue coming from the other end of the connection. "If we believe the accuracy of this calendar in predicting past events, doomsday could be by the next solstice or not even in our lifetimes." Nobody in Sinnoh ever kept time, and the moon-worshippers had been no different.

Listening hard to the half-intelligible chatter from the other person, the explorer sighed. "If I can find the exact inscription, of course I'll read it to you. I didn't bring any recording equipment with me on my last expedition, and not even Lucario are known for their memories of written material." Humans were, but this particular human really wasn't. She could read, but she wasn't exactly encyclopedic.

After a time spent searching for the exact location of the altar of the description of the world's end, she found it covered in the dust of a recent tremor. Brushing the particles out of the etched letters took even more time, but the woman soon had the entire quote clear of debris. She shivered as she read it once more

"Here," she muttered, silencing her contact. "This is the entire relevant part of the engraving: 'Youth empowers youth; ancient empowers ancient. Forces of nature, past, present and future shatter the barriers of spacetime as the War of Few drags those who deserve better away from childhood.' There is more, but I don't want to take the time to read more bad news."

A short silence grew in the moments after the woman's ringing voice rang into the open sky of the fallen temple. "Youth empowers youth," Ash said slowly, trailing his voice away.

"You." The woman's voice was absolutely sure. "Such a young National Champion has inspired children everywhere. I wouldn't be surprised if all the Gym Leaders and Champions cycle out within a few solstices to be replaced by youths."

"But what does 'the war of few' mean? A war usually implies massive battles with hundreds of people, right?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out. From what the Leaders tell me, there is a definite rise in both organized crime and a jump in Pokémon thieveries, both in Sinnoh and across the other Regions. It could be a precursor to some uprising involving a small group of ringleaders."

"I know," the man on the other end of the communication said, sounding pained.

Changing topics, Ash suddenly asked a question. "We still have time, right? We can still act before spacetime is torn apart, whatever that means." Always optimistic, even when he was terrified.

"I already have." A smile crept across the explorer's face. "I contacted a former Leader of mine, and the head Professors. I've given my own lead researcher a bit of motivation to go and start some youths who idolize you on their way."

"Then why didn't you warn me before?" Ash asked, exasperated by the way the woman had gone straight to the head Researchers. As he saw it, the old windbags were barriers to bypass.

"I wasn't sure I'd need to contact you, and I knew you'd want information. The Profs are always looking for gratitude and recommendations for their next recruits. I've given them both, and kept them in the dark about this." As she spoke, the lady gestured at the words before her, with their angular, pictographic writings. In the half-light of the ruin, they seemed to swirl before her.

"What about your former Leader?"

"I told him everything I knew. Danny is discreet. He won't give away any information unless it becomes absolutely necessary." And maybe not even then, she added silently.

"And again, the greatest trainers in the Nation are pulling the wool over the eyes of our citizens." Ash sighed. "We can't keep this charade up for long, but we can probably keep it up for longer if we don't involve ourselves. Can I count on you to carry on this information to the other Champions, and impress upon them the gravity of the situation?"

"Of course, Ash. You can always count on me." _Please don't tell me I'm flirting with him again, _she pleaded with herself.

"Thank you, Cynthia. Remember, you can't involve yourself, no matter how much you love involving yourself in the journeys of young trainers." Cynthia gave a mock frown that nobody but her Garchomp saw, and proceeded to say goodbye to the senior trainer. The Garchomp sighed, blowing steam. She _was_ flirting.

"Well, Gabu," Cynthia said, swinging onto his back. "The stage is set, and all we're allowed to do is watch. When I was small, I always thought that being Champion would be much more interesting than this." With this sentiment, the premier Trainer in Sinnoh launched into the air on her Mach Pokémon and powered off to the east.

* * *

Solidad, former contest champion and artistic darling of the Kanto Region, was never supposed to feel surprised. But the seemingly random appearance of Daniel, one of her contemporaries, on her doorstep, was a shock to her.

Completely without warning, the youth often praised as a genius had dropped down from his Tropius's back, right past the upper story window that Solidad worked beside. He smirked at her as he passed, though that might have just been him realizing how far the drop was. The beep of the visitor alarm a moment later had sent her scurrying downstairs.

Composed and barely windswept at all, Daniel was waiting patiently for her at the door. After walking inside like he visited her in this fashion daily, the young man pulled out a small communicator with a flexing screen and connected it with the communicator belonging to Solidad's children's grandfather, Professor Rowan. The immediate response was enough to set the Kanto Trainer's nerves on edge. He never responded to her that fast!

"You've arrived?" Rowan's gravelly voice sounded after a short moment, and the screen's light faded as if satisfied.

"I wouldn't have called you while Flying," Daniel responded primly. Very literal thinker, that youth.

A gruff snort accompanied Rowan's next comment, along with a tinge of drama. "I'm at the town's edge, so I'll arrive within a conversation's time." Time, the ultimate nonentity to Sinnohi people.

"Perfect." Daniel terminated the connection before Solidad could say a word, and the small machine purred quietly as it turned off. As if it was satisfied that it could annoy a powerful trainer.

"What is going on here?" Solidad tried and failed to keep irritation from her voice. Daniel might be a peer, but he had walked into her house and contacted her family without so much as a hello. Solidad had trouble backing down after anger emerged.

If Daniel noticed the woman's tone, he did not deign to acknowledge it. "What is happening is an order straight from the Champion."

"Cynthia?" Rhetoric not being Daniel's strong point, he nearly responded before Solidad continued. "What power does she have over a young family in Sinnoh's smallest town?" Solidad didn't like the idea of a trainer randomly arriving at her house, and she really didn't like the idea that Cynthia was ordering her around. A Kanto-born contest star simply didn't get ordered around by a foreign power!

"You're looking at the situation differently from how she sees it," Daniel explained. "I can't explain everything, but I can say this: something happened a few days ago that scared both Cynthia and Champion Ash witless, and apparently they want to send some of the more promising youths throughout the region on some wild Farfetch'd chase to solve it."

"If they're thinking Alexa or Markus, they're both wrong." Solidad was highly defensive about anyone who might overestimate her child or her child's best friend. "Just because they both have talented parents doesn't make them any more powerful than other children with better access to the Trainer's Schools."

"You're the one who moved your family out to Twinleaf Town. You can't expect the most powerful trainers within the Shield to ignore such a high concentration of potential and exposure. So many powerful Owners have escaped the bustle of cities for this place. This town _is_ a Trainer's School." An 'Owner' was someone who had one or more Pokémon, regardless of how they worked with them.

"That can't be the end of it," Solidad muttered darkly. "I know Ash. He may act like an idiot ninety-nine percent of the time, but he's more cunning than a Ninetales under that bubbly personality. His contingency plans have contingency plans." Ash was known for his exceptional instincts alongside that, and- well, hopefully Alexa or Markus wouldn't become one of his little_ obsessions._

"That may be," Daniel stated flatly. "But he's kept his position among the regions for almost as long as I've been alive, so we have to trust his judgment. I considered it myself, and all three of us have specific skills that the League may be after." Now there was her surprise of the day. Daniel, a member of one of the most prideful, powerful families inside the Shield, was admitting that someone else could help him.

"You would be travelling with them." Audible grumbling ensued from Solidad and her empathetic Slowbro, alerting the Professor, who was waiting outside, to the state of the conversation.

Waiting for the redheaded mother of his grandchildren to open the door, Rowan checked his pack for the hundredth time. During the short, easy walk from Sandgem Town to Twinleaf, he had checked on the Pokémon Cynthia had specifically told him to gift his new charges with every hundred metres or so.

Solidad eventually opened the door with a look that could fry a Magmortar, and Rowan slipped in to sit beside Daniel on a large couch. The slam of the door as Solidad vented her anger brought an answering thump from an upstairs room; then a chorus of thumps moving across the ceiling and down the stairs. Ka-thump-a-thump. Thump-thump-thumpthumpthump.

Daniel looked over with unabashed curiosity as three younglings peered around the wall into the living room. The two smaller figures had Solidad's features, with the exception of her soft burgundy hair, and the third was taller, with thick blond curls and wide eyes.

The three of them looked at Solidad first, as she glared at them and tried to shoo them back upstairs with her mind, and then over at Daniel, who peered back, and a very uncomfortable Professor Collin Rowan.

With a knowing glance at his mother, the smaller boy turned and headed back upstairs, but the two older children remained, to Solidad's obvious dismay. Shrugging at her mother's discomfort, the girl pushed past a weak barrier that the Slowbro had erected, her long, long hair trailing in the air to mark its location.

Solidad turned to the florid pink Slow Pokémon. "Fisher, stop that!" she told him firmly, as if she hadn't been subconsciously ordering her faithful friend to erect the psychic wall.

Fisher's only response was an unhappy moan as the tiny shield winked out of existence.

"Hypocrite," was Alexa's only response in her mother's direction. She swaggered over to the couch, and her friend, the blond boy, sighed and followed.

With a cynical glare, the Slowbro began to growl a response, but Solidad stopped him. "Not now," she murmured as her faithful partner looked up.

"Aaaand there's a secret," the blond youth said from behind Alexa. "With famous Owners, there are always secrets." He looked at all three of the Pokémon Owners in the room with knowledge more fitting for an adult. Not the greatest start, as far as conversations went.

"Except that this time it's not so much of a secret," Daniel said quietly, and without any guile. He sounded like he really meant it, too. Solidad turned to hide her surprise. "Your grandfather has decided to provide you two with Pokémon, and I have a conveniently placed vacation from university right now."

Unnoticed by the two children, Fisher wandered behind a partition and proceeded to fix the location where Daniel was with his full telepathic power. That is to say, the limited telepathy that a Slowbro possesses. Unlike their close relatives, the Slowking, Slowbro were more telekinetic than telepathic. At the same time, he extended a link to Solidad to augment her contact with himself.

Being a former Psychic Pokémon specialist, Daniel's only indication that he was in contact with another person via telepathy was his dropping out of the conversation as the Professor began to explain the rare Pokémon he had recently been provided with to give to young trainers, spinning out the fabricated half-truth Cynthia had told him to use. Meanwhile, Daniel stared into the distance and Solidad exited the room.

_What are you two doing?_

Daniel responded promptly, though Fisher warped the response speed slightly. _We're only doing what we were told to do by Cynthia._

_ Withholding important information from children?_

_ This is of dire importance, _Daniel sent, sounding exasperated. _Whatever happens later can be explained away as coincidence, but we need to earn their support now. You have to realize this: I would not even be trying this if it were not absolutely necessary._

_ And what are you going to do later? Do you think they'll trust you when all of this falls apart? _Solidad gesticulated wildly in the other room, and the sudden physical movement made Fisher's tentative connection with Daniel's mind fray and suddenly collapse. Daniel was left with only Solidad's parting knowledge that Alexa was as quick to trust as Markus was to mistrust. Her anger was also terrifying. When the web of lies he and Rowan constructed here collapsed, they had better have some good excuses.

Slipping back into the conversation just as Rowan finished, Daniel was hardly even missed. Alexa and her friend Markus were too immersed in the three Pokémon that the Professor had brought. As Solidad rejoined them, she sent Daniel a tiny nod, her small consent to him to take her child on her journey. Apparently some of the dubiously vast knowledge in Daniel's head had convinced her somehow.

"Once you select your First, I'll guide you on the basics of training." Daniel returned to the conversation, interrupting Markus's gushing.

In the following rush of Alexa's sheer willful excitement, Markus raised a question. "Why are you travelling with us? Nobody does anything for nothing." In his family, altruism was a rarity.

Daniel arched an eyebrow, but he had been in contact with the gangling youth's father, so he knew why Markus held this view. "The Professor has several incredibly rare Pokémon with him, which I may not be able to train otherwise. Having ready access to them should be able to help add information to what we already know." Solidad snorted in derision at the lie, but Alexa simply considered it disgust that Daniel considered everything in terms of research.

"Markus," she said, like she was talking to someone slow, "The researcher is travelling with us so that he can do research. Do you need me to make it more obvious?" Markus reached up and bopped her lightly on the top of her dark hair. Alexa smirked.

Daniel looked slightly confused by the exchange, but he managed to dismiss it for what it was: friends being friends.

Rowan took a deep breath and counted to ten, not used to dealing with children. Especially not wayward youths. Then he continued. "The Regional Leagues recently provided each of the head researchers in their regions with a trio of rare, powerful Pokémon," her reiterated. "Since each laboratory is in a small town, we were recommended to provide the Pokémon to more unlikely candidates than usual. Generally, I would look to the Jubilife Trainer's School to show me some worthy youths, but I decided that the time has come to give you two your Youthturning Gifts."

"Prof," Alexa interrupted, "sorry to interrupt. But my Youthturning was last solstice. You couldn't get out here for a day to give me something then, and now you come tramping up the road to give me a late gift?" Subtlety, as anyone could see, was not something Alexa exactly valued.

"And my mom says that my Youthturning can't be for another year," Markus muttered. "Because I'm only thirteen in Outside years."

"Your mother is a Timekeeper?" Daniel was always distractible without a pressing research project. It came with the enviable territory of brainpower.

"Back on topic!" Rowan called, pointedly not answering the original question and earning a matching pair of death glares from the two women in the room. "I reserve the right to provide you with your Youthturning Gifts whenever I wish. As there are three Pokémon, I'll be allowing Daniel to take one." Daniel, who had been worried by Rowan's bad cover-up of the discrepancy, was suddenly surprised.

Markus's expression suddenly darkened. Reasons that Daniel might be allowed to take a highly valuable Pokémon when he had plenty of his own flashed through his mind. "This is something to do with the League," he whispered to Alexa, suddenly angry. "And they want Daniel to try and protect us. They must be bartering with him through Rowan." Alexa just turned and continued the death stare she had just been giving her grandfather. Her expression read, to Markus's trained eye: _Keep the conspiracy theories to yourself._ He turned and folded his hands meekly in his lap.

Daniel thought fast, seeing the need to move away from this topic. "As you two know, you need to earn the Trainer's License before I can let you challenge a gym. For that to happen, I'd like to let you bond with these Pokémon within the day." Most of Daniel's studies surrounded the Loyalty Bonds that Pokémon formed with humans, and he knew that defining the nature of their relationship was important to do at the first opportunity.

"Indeed," Rowan agreed gravely. "Even with their often great intelligence, many Pokémon tend to solidify their first Bond with a specific nature in mind."

"Like Fisher? He tends to prefer battling to hanging around the house like this." Fisher nodded emphatic agreement. Well, emphatic for a Slowbro. For a human, it would have been closer to a sleepy, half-attention nod.

"Precisely. If you let your starters think that they're simply companions on the first day, rather than battling partners, it will be difficult to change their minds." Daniel was proud that someone understood him. For him, that was a severe rarity.

"But there aren't many training areas around here," Markus pointed out. "The Pokémon ceded this land to humans before the Shield existed." It was an old story, one that anyone in the area knew. The Michina tribes had needed warm land to live on; the Pokémon hadn't needed to hoard the entire thick forest. Those were the only details anyone agreed on, however.

"Some Pokémon still live here, and they will have to do." Rowan considered for a moment. "Lake Verity is probably perfectly fitting for your training. Even in the old stories, Pokémon have never given up that land."

"Sure. We'll go there." Daniel was getting impatient, as always. He was fidgety in the room, for reasons few would understand.

"Not to interrupt," except for the part where Solidad always meant to interrupt when she said something like that, Alexa thought, "but it's past noon now. If you want to get out to Lake Verity and back before sunset so soon after the Solstice of Shadows, you should leave soon." Markus nodded agreement after a glance out the window.

Despite Rowan having been in his element only moments ago, speechifying to his heart's content, he felt the situation slipping out of his control. Control was very important to the professor. "If I could have your attention, I'll give you three the Pokémon. I'd like to see you in Sandgem Town tomorrow after Daniel gives you the basics of training. Now, I have a meeting with a radical young Floaroma researcher." With a suitably dramatic air, the professor handed the Poké Balls to Daniel before striding out the door as if he was in a Jubilife holo-production.

"He needs to join a theatre group or something," Solidad pointed out with a sigh. "Maybe it would make his little episodes of melodrama less annoying."

"Episodes?" Alexa snorted. "He acts like that _all the time_. Some people just can't get enough of themselves." Implications: obvious. The youth was quite proud of the generalized insult.

Daniel carefully placed the pristine Poké Balls on the low table in front of him. "You two should pick. I'll take whichever one's left," he told the youths who were now officially his protégés. Or his puppets. Speaking of puppets, Banette had recently been seen in Sinnoh…

Pulling his mind back on track, Daniel gestured at the table again, trying not to let his brain follow its typical slide away from the topic of discussion.

Markus watched Daniel's eyes slide in and out of focus as he looked at the three Poké Balls. "How can I tell what's in them?"

Solidad replied. "Usually, people label them. Since these don't have labels, you can pick them up. If you concentrate, the power they have should be evident to you." Poké Balls weren't powerful enough, in general, to contain the energy of a physical being compressed and stored as, quite literally, pure energy. Solidad and Daniel had both seen the calculations of the containment technology integrated in modern Poké Balls, and the sheer amount of pure heat and light that the Pokémon existed as in the energy state was staggering.

Slowly, like the benign metal surface was threatening to hurt him, Markus reached out one finger and poked it. A short blast of power brought his hand quickly away from the orb. Ancient and powerful, he could feel the power of the earth and its all too temporary neighbours, the plants. Along with it came the image of an even more temporary creature: the ubiquitous green tortoise that appeared in children's tales like The Turtwig and the Lopunny. He stood there, staring dubiously at the oxymoronic little sphere of metal, for a long time.

* * *

_Just a little reminder for everyone: reviews? Likes? Faves?_


	2. Lakeshore Felony

"Mark, you look like you ate one of your mom's poffins. Let me pick first if you're not going to." Alexa wasn't known to mince words, especially when it came to Markus's snooty mother, Irina.

Daniel simply sat back and watched the two friends interact. Always working on something, he was planning how to earn Markus's trust as the two youths giggled and pushed each other around. It was a futile exercise, since knowing someone for all of a few minutes didn't really give him any knowledge of their personality. He'd need a few hours at least.

"Children, not in the house." Solidad was calm again, as usual. She was in the presence of a younger trainer, and Solidad prided herself on being a paragon of maturity, though her tone made Alexa's eyes roll.

Alexa had a clear goal for her First. "Which one is Water?" was her question, as she extricated herself from Markus's light punches.

Daniel, used to trainers with little to no preference for certain types, had to ask, "Why do you want the Water First? All three are chosen as equals." Trainers such as Gym Leaders had to select a specialty type, but it was rare for a First Pokémon to be selected according to Element by a youth like Alexa.

Markus knew Alexa's answer, having heard it painfully often since the girl had learned how to distinguish between Pokémon. "Mom's type is Water. I want to know why." Straightforward. Bossy. That was always Alexa's style, whether she was playing a game or directing a repair job. Somehow, she always climbed to the top among her peers with endless drive and perseverance. And curiosity, but she usually avoided being governed by any one interest.

"I trust you to find it," Daniel told her with a smile. A rude hand gesture and a gasp from Solidad followed. Markus sighed and Alexa grinned. She knew Solidad often graced bike riders with the same gesture in towns when they nearly ran her over, so she didn't see why it was so terrible for her to do the same to a complete stranger.

Usually, Solidad was a little more verbose, even.

Markus grabbed up the Poké Ball he had poked earlier, knowing that it wasn't a Water Pokémon. Unless the concept of 'Water' had changed into growth and green matter in the last few minutes, of course.

Rolling her eyes in a fashion that would have made today's teenagers envious as Solidad began to admonish her, Alexa leaned over and grabbed the Poké Ball farthest from her at random. Markus gripped his new Poké Ball tighter in sympathy as the youth's eyes went wide.

Unprotected by Markus's small first contact, the Pokémon equivalent of static electricity raced up her arm. More mobile than the power exercised by the Poké Ball Markus held, energy that tasted blue flooded every corner of Alexa's body. For an instant, a being of inscrutable pride and endless age surveyed her, knowing every part of her and showing her parts that she'd rather not be shown. Satisfied with having let her know that it was boss, the power seeped out slowly. Blank, wide eyes were the order of the day for a moment as Alexa got her own brain back. Daniel nodded.

"I had anticipated that reaction. Water tends to be hard on your body the first time you come into contact with it. I'm glad neither of you selected our volatile little friend, Fire." Grabbing the last Poké Ball and ignoring the jolt of pent-up power, Daniel led the way outside. Apparently, Rowan had some way to keep the escaping energy from following the logical path through his body. As quite literally the power of life, the energy humans picked up from Poké Balls specifically avoided any nonliving object, so the thin layer of cloth between Rowan and the spheres probably protected him.

Solidad followed Daniel, with Alexa and Markus trailing behind. "I'll talk Irina into allowing this, but bring them back before dark," Solidad ordered Daniel. "Both of those two need to learn to pack a proper travelling bag."

Markus and Alexa shared a look; _who needs to learn to pack a bag?_ and Daniel nodded solemnly. "I just need them to set up the bonds. They'll be home before long." Not that they would be home much after that, if the two were as successful as Cynthia obviously hoped.

Until Twinleaf Town's founding only a generation or two before, when it was established as a haven for the most powerful trainers upon retirement, Verity Lake had been even more remote than Lake Acuity, almost a day's journey from Sandgem Town. And because Sandgem was primarily a research base, not many tourists passed through. Not even the most avid Pokémon Owner wanted to see the endless collections of data that Researchers spent lifetimes compiling. Upon consideration, it kind of made Alexa wonder why anyone became a researcher. Toiling in obscurity was hardly a glorious fate.

Some of Celestic Town's Michina shamans had forwarded the idea of a town for powerful trainers in the Southern Woods. Since they needed a strong bond with their Pokémon, the shamans claimed that the most powerful trainers were avatars of the Emotion Pokémon, Mesprit. Solidad still solidly claimed that her spirit patron was Azelf, despite her proximity to the Spring of the Heart, as it was called by the native tribes of the area.

These days, the lake mostly saw traffic from tourists and visiting Owners who claimed to have Mesprit's protection. If every person Alexa had seen claim it actually was a favoured of the Pokémon, then the legend couldn't be as asleep as everyone said.

* * *

On arrival, Markus headed straight down to the water. Over the long summers when he and Alexa and their families had visited this shore almost daily, he and Alexa's brother had taught themselves to read the lake's mood based on the ripple patterns. Markus wanted to show his new Turtwig what the lake thought today. He was disappointed by what he saw.

"Lexa! Come see this!" he called after a moment. Alexa jogged down from 'her' rock, the place where she always sat at the lake. Daniel was making use of the time Markus spent by the lake looking for wild Pokémon that wouldn't mind a battle. Oddly enough, he couldn't see any with a cursory search, so he watched Markus and Alexa talk.

"I've never seen the water like this," Markus told Alexa. He was looking more stressed by the second, and Alexa couldn't see why.

"It's just the usual nervousness pattern." Alexa never got as accomplished at 'ripple-reading' as Markus and Benjamin. "Look at the vortices. The wave size is just bigger than normal. We see enough of the lake being nervous already."

Markus was still stressed. "The wave size is exactly what I mean!" he snapped. "They're circling the nervousness vortices in a way I've never seen before. The lake is nervous and worried, but it's more than that. The waves are like Compassion, but they're circling Nervousness. I think it's worried about the Pokémon in the woods for some reason."

Daniel started to feel nervous at that. "Speaking of Pokémon in the woods," he interrupted, "do they usually hide this well? I can't see any from here."

"_What?_" Alexa and Markus both asked at the same time. For a moment, the three of them stared around; then there was a ripple out on the lake.

Relieved at the sight of some life, Markus sighed just an instant before a pack of Water Pokémon caused a huge wave to rush at the shore. Alexa grabbed him and pulled both of them up the incline beside the water, up to Daniel. The wave crashed exactly where they had been standing and the impact soaked all three of them. A rock being carried in the current smashed to smithereens against the sandy shore.

"I think I know why your 'lake' is so worried." Daniel threw out a Poké Ball. After a flash of light as the pure energy recomposed, Daniel's Swoobat was flapping over the trees.

"Why did they attack us? The Pokémon here never attack people!" Alexa gasped, clutching at her new Poké Ball.

Daniel's mind worked fast. No solutions came, but a new threat presented itself in his mind. "If the Pokémon in the lake are acting like this, it's a good bet that the ones in the forest will attack us as well," he muttered. "Let this be a little trial-by-fire for your Pokémon," he said, louder. "Hopefully, your new friends can deal with this with minimal assistance from me."

Markus grinned slightly. "Make use of a bad situation?" he asked weakly, pressing the button of his Poké Ball to unleash his new Turtwig. Alexa did the same.

Even with Pokémon attacking him from one side and possibly another, Daniel had time to be worried. Humans, as a rule, were not designed to handle large amounts of pure power. Generally, trainers threw their Poké Balls because the unleashed energy had a tendency to bond with the human body slightly. It wasn't a comfortable process.

As the pack of various Water Pokémon swam for shore, Markus fell to the ground and Alexa squealed as the energy began to recompose in a physical form. After the usual flash of blinding light, Piplup and Turtwig stood in front of their respective trainers. Piplup gave Alexa a haughty glare as she frantically checked her arms to make absolutely sure that the concentrated light hadn't burned them. Markus, meanwhile, had a Turtwig bounding around him as his brain tried to assimilate the fact that he'd been in pain but not injured.

Daniel raised one eyebrow at the antics of the two Pokémon. For a moment, they could all forget that they were under attack as baby Pokémon hopped back and forth, often collapsing on their bottom ends. Throwing his new Chimchar's Poké Ball overhand, Daniel let the third member of the little trio join the rambunctious crowd.

"In the future, I expect you two to be more careful with yourselves as well as your Pokémon," Daniel admonished his charges. "For now, all five of you should simply keep an eye out for an assault from the forest."

"Pokémon wouldn't attack me!" Alexa claimed, for once letting her pride in her abilities glow through.

Markus gave a dry chuckle. "What do you call what just happened, then? A greeting?" Not for the first time, Alexa wished that Markus had a less developed sense of humour. If 'developed' was the right word.

With a slight bow wave, the various blue-hued Pokémon reached shore. It was a testament to how massive the great lake was that it had taken them this long. Clambering onto the shore, several of the more land-capable ones moved to the front. In practice, this meant a group of Golduck, and only Golduck. Lake Verity isn't known for massive diversity.

The lead member of the small team gave a low quack, somehow making the innocuous sound, familiar to any city-dweller within or beyond the Shield, a threat.

Alexa gasped. "We aren't here to steal anyone," she called belligerently. Well, that was what Daniel and Markus heard. Markus knew the undertones that his friend's voice took on when she spoke in Michina, a language that all Pokémon learned.

A purely spoken language, Michina was almost impossible to teach to humans; their brains processed it as sounding like their native tongue. Alexa's father had been a descendant of one of the few lines of the Michina tribe who had continued to teach their language as the first speech their children learned. Because only Sinnoh's Michina had still even retained the language until settlement from Outside, Alexa and her brother were among only twenty or thirty people on the planet capable of understanding, and speaking to, Pokémon.

"Steal?" Daniel looked around, and his Swoobat flapped in circles, nervous.

"They think that we want to steal the rest of them. As if anyone would even think about stealing a Pokémon!" _No living thing could be so cruel,_ Alexa thought. She was an idealist, a value which often crossed swords with Markus's diehard realism. But then, you couldn't help who had taught you to think that way, could you?

Even before he could consider the Golduck's statement, Daniel found Water blasting at him. Not water, but Water, the Elemental Force that Water Pokémon produced with their overabundant power.

Without even thinking, Daniel flung himself to the side and landed in the grass, only slightly more soaked. Humans, by definition, are statistically worse than even Magikarp at battling, and most are just barely better at leaping out of the way of an attack. It was a rare human who attempted to challenge Pokémon. Even rarer was a human who could do more than kick a Sunkern out of the way.

Seconds later, Daniel's Swoobat arrowed down before the group of various Water Pokémon. Daniel scrabbled out of the way as the one Gyarados in the group launched a Hyper Beam.

"Vena, swing up and out of range." The Swoobat spread her wings and launched out of her dive, steadying out nearly 20 metres above the lake. Far out of any Gyarados's reach. The other Pokémon hurried to get out of the way; rudeness among Pokémon societies includes an uneven battle, though trainer versus wild Pokémon is hardly ever even.

Chimchar chittered something under his breath and hopped up on his trainer's shoulder as Daniel stood up. However, Daniel was in no mood to offer affection at the moment.

"Alexa, warn the Gyarados that we are not here to thieve, but that I will have to have Vena attack if it threatens us any more." Alexa looked up from where she and Piplup were scanning the forest border; then Alexa yelled the ultimatum up to the Atrocious Pokémon.

The Gyarados lowered its head to Alexa slightly, as if in recognition. Then it rose of and gave a massive roar that made the hair on the back of each human's neck stand on end. In an instant, the sky filled with clouds and began to rain. Chimchar looked around for a moment before reaching back and turning out its smoking tail, while Turtwig frolicked in the instant puddles and Piplup looked on in disdain.

"What did it do?" Markus's confusion was not unfounded. There would appear to be little purpose to a little bad weather, especially for residents of Sinnoh's south coast like him, who dealt with rain almost daily.

Alexa was still looking around. "He said that the humans who came before weren't fond of the rain, and that this would keep them from doing anything. Basically, if we were the thieves, we would be leaving now." She was just as bemused as Markus, but Daniel gleaned much more from the statement.

_From the eastern coast or one of the deserts, _he surmised. _But why would they be stealing Pokémon? And why-_ Daniel's thought broke off and his mind slid sideways as Piplup trilled an alarm and pointed into the deep forests by the lakeshore. A thundering herd of Bibarel, Staravia, and even a few Staraptor were shattering tree branches as they rampaged through the rain.

"Vena, get down here. Saurus, fly us out to Twinleaf," Daniel said, regaining his equilibrium as the three other Pokémon readied childish battle stances. He returned Vena to her Poké Ball and released his Tropius, scrabbling up onto her back and settling in for the flight. "We can't deal with this many."

"Well, this defeats the entire purpose of that little trip," Alexa muttered a moment later, on the back of the flying behemoth. Her new Piplup was screeching abuse at the crowd of Pokémon below, saying words in Michina which tempted Alexa to cover Chimchar's ears. She wouldn't cover Turtwig's, mostly because she wasn't sure exactly where his ears were.

"We can deal with the Loyalty Bond later," Daniel said tersely, entirely opposite of what he had stated only a short time earlier. Apparently, even geniuses who were former Gym Leaders were subject to stress. "Your mother might have more insight on this, so I'm going to get you home. When we get there, you two can have some practice bouts. And I think that Piplup already has a bit of what it needs already." Sometimes it was painfully obvious when humans didn't understand Pokémon.

For the second time in one day, Solidad was startled by Daniel's arrival. Technically, he should only be Flying around with his charges if there was some emergency, so Solidad could hardly tell her motherhood paranoia to back down when there could very well be something wrong.

Before Saurus could even land properly, Solidad had come running outside and was calling up to the humans on the Tropius's back. "What happened? Is anyone hurt?"

Daniel slid off and helped Alexa and Markus down before replying. "None of us. The Pokémon at Lake Verity are a different story, however."

"They thought we were thieves!" Alexa said; then yelped as Solidad crushed her in a hug. If she was gone for a walk and arrived home to this welcome, what would her mother do when she arrived home after travelling for a while? And what if she arrived home with news of something big? She might not survive that.

As always, the time a traveller was most likely to die was in their mother's arms, the life slowly crushed out of them in a massive hug.

Solidad looked to the senior trainer for answers, of course. Markus had always been irritated when adults overlooked him, and now was no different. Never mind greater experience, he had information to offer, too! Daniel, of course, just gestured at Alexa, who was struggling in her ever-caring mother's death grip. "Your daughter is the one who talks to them. She's better equipped to answer that question."

"Oh, is she?" Solidad said, sounding exactly like any other mother in the history of forever. "Well, you're coming too. Markus, I talked to your mom. You should go stop her from packing the entire region into your bag. I'll deal with limiting what _you_ pack later, but Irina will probably want to get you a blimp to carry the house with you." Knowing that Alexa would provide an anecdote of everything that went on later, Markus happily ran off with Turtwig. Turtwig's Poké Ball bounced, long forgotten, on Markus's belt.

* * *

"Who would steal anything from Lake Verity?" Solidad asked some minutes later, over yet another cup of tea. Daniel was starting to think that Solidad must have some ancestors from Ireland, with the amount of tea that she was pushing on him to ingest. "Much less stealing Pokémon."

"I think a better question is: Why would they only steal the weakest Pokémon? The lake's patriarch was still there, and he didn't even seem to have been targeted these thieves, though he may have targeted them with a torrential downpour."

Alexa sat, quietly nursing her own tea, and drank everything in. Except the tea. She had enough tea in her life already. Piplup sat beside her, slowly nibbling at one of Fisher's biscuits. It was almost as big as he was.

Solidad had dealt with a few Pokémon thieves in her time; there was always some human looking to find a more powerful or rare specimen, and a Grand Festival winner was a prime opportunity. A rare Pokémon, and Contest trainers were not known to be battlers. Boy, had those attempting thieves learned a hard lesson. But the motivation for a thief was almost always power or wealth. The reasons that they would go after babies, and babies of more common Pokémon, at that, were entirely beyond her limited expertise.

"Could they have been looking to give the Pokémon away?" A family trait: Solidad and Alexa always considered the benign options first. "Easy-to-find Pokémon are always most common among young Owners, and permits aren't easy to nab, especially for a bulk capture."

Daniel only considered that option for a moment. "I can't see anyone with benign intentions taking all of the young from a reserve like the lakeshore. I couldn't see a single young Pokémon in the two groups which attacked us." Not that he had been looking. Bigger, more dangerous things tended to keep his attention best.

Solidad's eyes narrowed as other options flitted through her mind, none of them good. "Here." She handed Daniel the household com-screen. "You should tell the League. Ask if Cynthia can get someone out here fast to placate that Gyarados. The forest Pokémon will calm down if Kha'Ferru comes to his senses and tells them to.

"Alexa, you and Markus should exercise your new Pokémon. I had Coro clear the backyard battlefield. You two can have a couple of training fights back there, and I'll come out to coach you." Solidad knew what Alexa would do when she came into contact with Markus again; it was what she had done enough times as a youth.

As Alexa ran off eagerly, her red-headed mother turned to Daniel. "Is there anything else you gleaned from the attack?"

Daniel replied only for a moment as he waited for Cynthia to pick up the other end of the com. "They disliked the climate. And they weren't exactly dedicated to what they were doing."_ They were the lackeys for someone,_ he added, not out loud. _Not only that, but they had little loyalty for their leader. We should be able to use that somehow._

Alexa ran off down the main street of Twinleaf, completely unaware of the extra information she had missed. _An adventure, _she broadcasted mentally, loud enough for any Psychic Pokémon to hear her. _A real adventure with heroes and comrades and villains, just like the old books! This is going to be so much fun!_ A loud snort and a crashing sound followed that thought from the nearest stand of trees. "Same to you, Hwaa!" Alexa yelled at the resident Noctowl, who pulled itself out from the bush it had fallen into at the derisive thought of a real life adventure being anything like Alexa's deluded vision. Not that Hwaa had ever travelled anywhere, but any practical being knew that real life wasn't like a story.

_I'll show him later,_ Alexa thought as she skidded to a halt outside Markus's house. _Until then, I'll just have fun with whatever happens._

* * *

_Reviews are fun, so why not leave one?_


	3. Training Children

Solidad was right about Irina.

When Alexa arrived at Markus's house just down the path, Markus had just managed to extract a huge tent from his dad's travelling pack, which was almost as big as he was. _In its bag_. Irina was fussing around the house, going on about Markus 'following in his father's footsteps' and becoming one of the most renowned humans in Sinnoh. Alexa's arrival could not come too soon for him.

When she did walk in, it was to see a minor explosion of gear that Irina had considered to be potentially useful. A camping stove, a huge coil of rope, even about 50 spray bottles of Repel – it seemed like Markus's family was trying to open a survival shop. "Markus, come on and bring your bag. Mom is going to want to," a moment of consideration, "check what's in there."

"See you later, honey," Irina said sweetly, smothering her son in kisses. "Just make sure to come home safely, and I promise I'll be proud of you." Markus held his bitter laughter until the door closed behind him.

"She goes on and on about protecting the family's status, and then says her one encouraging phrase when another person is nearby." Markus didn't exactly have a good family life, but Alexa hoped that her family more than made up for that. Even when Solidad wasn't in a motherly mood, she always had a kind word for anyone. Except people who tried to run her over on bikes. They didn't get such kind words.

"Well, your tragedy of a home life aside, you have to hear this." A few minutes at a slow walk was all she needed to provide all the pertinent information to her friend. "He's calling the league now, and Mom says that they're going to send someone out here to get the patriarch to calm down."

"Someone the league trusts to deal with a Gyarados," Markus mused. "I'd like to meet them."

"So would I, but we'll probably be in Jubilife before they get here." Alexa couldn't really care one way or another, since she might end up meeting whoever it was anyway.

"Now you sound distracted. Could it be because of Daniel?" Markus put a suggestive slur on Daniel's name.

Alexa cursed her face as she blushed. It wasn't like she was some sort of fantasy-novel pretty girl, falling in love with the attractive hero. "Markus, why would you skip straight to that conclusion?"

"Oh, I don't know." Markus nonchalantly kicked a pebble off of the path. "It's just that he's smart, mature, the perfect height for you," it never escaped Markus's notice when someone was exactly a head shorter than another, "and he's completely out of your league. If this were a story, I'd be pretty sure you'd end up with him." He leaped back from Alexa's kick and grinned at her.

"What are you, my matchmaker?" Alexa trotted off down the path at a much faster pace. Markus tended to jump on any opportunity to micromanage his friend's romantic life, whether she wanted it or not.

Markus adopted a pose with his hands behind his head as he caught up. "I'd prefer to think that I was a Luvdisc in a past life. My only goal is your happiness."

Another kick. Another dodge. "No, your goal is to live the relationship vicariously, when you could just as easily put yourself out there and flirt for yourself.

"Anyways, he's not out of my league. He's an equal."

Markus had her cornered, and Alexa knew it. Her pride and his cunning wouldn't let this end any other way. "Then prove it," Markus challenged her. "Flirt with him just once, and then I'll take a turn." There was an offer she couldn't refuse. Markus flirting was something that she would swim a Sharpedo-infested river to see.

"Done. Now shut up before my mom hears us."

Turtwig gave Markus a confused look. He didn't understand much of what the two of them had said, but he wasn't entirely oblivious. Obviously, the two of them were lusting for the same mate, so why weren't they fighting over him? Were they even the same gender? Turtwig's little head spun, and Markus picked him up before he fell over.

"Easy, little friend," he said softly. He had no clue what his innocent little companion was thinking.

Alexa snorted. "Are you still ready for battles?" she asked in Michina.

The following string of chirps, tweets, and what could only be described as bleats meant nothing to Markus, but Alexa's eyebrows rose. "Okay, sure. But no matter what Piplup might say, I don't want to hear you repeat those words again."

Ignoring Markus's now very surprised expression, Alexa looked at him again. "He's fine, but I'm thinking I might have to give Piplup a firm lesson in language use. He's a bad influence on others." Before Markus could reply, Solidad's voice sailed from Alexa's door. She was leaning on the doorframe, apparently waiting for them.

"You two, go around to the back," she called. "Daniel and I will be there in a moment."

As Markus and Alexa made their leisurely way to the back of the house and Solidad's training field, Solidad went back inside the house just as Daniel turned off the comscreen. "Cynthia is going to get one of the Elite Four in here, probably Lucian. He should be able to deal with the Gyarados and calm it down."

"Perfect. And Fisher should be able to help him.

"Now, you have to help me teach those kids how to battle properly, or they'll hurt themselves and their partners later." Solidad led the way outside.

* * *

Markus and Alexa were waiting on the sidelines of Solidad's battlefield, which was more or less a clearing filled with grass and a few logs. "For basic battling, this field is hardly ideal," Daniel pointed out.

Solidad gave him a withering glare. "Not many of the people around here are very much into basic battling," she said pointedly. "We all like a little challenge, and this will make all other battles child's play." Alexa giggled. Solidad might be good at kind words, but she could also make her voice sting when she pleased. A genetic trait.

"Alexa, over at this end," Solidad ordered, pointing at one of the few clear spaces. Rather than being at the edge of the field, the advanced design puts the trainer closer to the centre of the action. For a battle involving youngsters like Piplup and Turtwig, the close range was a blessing.

Daniel impassively motioned Markus into the opposite clearing, and the two mentors joined their respective trainees. Remembering her rather unfortunate incident at the lakeshore, Alexa gave Piplup's Poké Ball a light toss as she released her Pokémon.

Daniel, not knowing how much experience the two of them might or might not have, chose to start with the basics. "In a formal battle using a marked battlefield like this, you two will both attack together to start, and then the opponent who takes the most damage will attack again. Then you'll alternate until a forfeit or a faint." As Daniel continued to explain, going into completely pointless details that wouldn't matter in such a basic battle, Alexa made a hand puppet and imitated Daniel's speech. Markus tried to control his giggling in vain, and even Solidad bit her lip to stop from laughing.

It was too much to hope for that Daniel wouldn't notice. After giving Alexa a hard stare, he simply moved on. "Well, go ahead and try an attack, then."

Solidad took over the explanation. "In the first attack, there are as many different strategies as there are Pokémon Owners. Your job is to find your best strategy and implement it."

"You can only do that through experience, though," Daniel interjected. "Before your first Gym Challenge, I want you both to practice as much as you can. Now let's see an attack."

"Turtwig, Razor Leaf!"

"Piplup, Bubblebeam!"

Solidad, Facepalm! Solidad's forehead collided with her palm as Piplup provided Alexa with an exquisitely dirty look and Turtwig turned and stared at Markus.

"You'll have to work with them to teach them those moves." Daniel's deadpan voice made it clear what he thought of their strategy. "For now, simple and instinctive attacks like Tackles are the only ones they know."

"Well, that's entirely useful," Alexa muttered. "Piplup, go with a physical attack, and give it all you've got!"

Piplup began to waddle forwards, and it became abundantly apparent that a penguin chick is not really designed for walking. Even as he wobbled back and forth, though, Piplup kept going in earnest.

Markus waited for a moment before commanding. Then he began, "Turtwig, why don't you attack back?" He sounded almost apologetic, and Piplup's ire rose.

With an affirmative squeak, Turtwig leapt into Piplup's path, and both tried to look menacing as they tried to circle. Piplup managed, sort of, by looking down his beak and strutting. Tiny turtles, on the other hand, are left at a severe disadvantage.

"Awww, that's so adorable!" Alexa was pained to hear her own mother squeak like that. "Have you ever seen any Pokémon look so cute in a battle?"

"Mother, you know that he understood most of what you said," Alexa sighed as Turtwig blushed an interesting shade of cobalt green.

Daniel leaned and whispered to Markus, "You can ask Turtwig to alter the attack and take advantage of the cuteness right now, but you two will have to work harder on it later."

"Okay then." Markus wasn't sure how to command that particular response, and he still wasn't comfortable with Daniel. The very tall, quiet presence was unnerving and felt unnatural to him. He would never learn to trust him without a few allowances for trust first, though. That was one of Alexa's mantras. "Well, Turtwig, let's try to use the cuteness. Go ahead and see if you can throw Piplup off guard."

Blushing so much he looked like he was about to catch fire – not too far-fetched for a Grass Pokémon – Turtwig simpered slightly and ducked his head. Piplup and Alexa doubled over laughing.

Markus's confidence grew. "That's it, Turtwig!" he yelled. "Now you can attack." Meanwhile, Daniel matched eye for eye the acid gaze of a Kricketot that the gales of laughter had awakened.

Moving into a sort-of gallop, Turtwig crossed the remaining distance between the two Pokémon before Piplup could react and rammed straight into the penguin's stomach. Rather than falling back, winded, like any human on the face of the planet, Piplup came straight back at the turtle with a wing slap.

With the helpless humans watching from the sidelines, the match quickly dissolved into the two tiny young Pokémon pushing each other back and forth and ineffectively.

Finally Solidad had had enough of the brawling. "Enough!" she roared, and the Pokémon cowered. Fisher and Alexa exchanged sympathetic looks, having both been on the receiving end of that particular tone during previous escapades.

"You two are above this," Solidad continued, motioning for Alexa to translate. "Pokémon are creatures of elegance and safety, not a petty brawl. I will not let you make enemies of each other."

A ringing silence followed after Alexa finished repeating her mother's words. Piplup gave Solidad a sidelong glance; then shot a glare at Markus. He tossed himself at Turtwig with abandon, and the following melee only ended when Markus and Alexa intervened by returning the Pokémon.

"You've picked up a handful." Solidad's voice, perfectly deadpan, betrayed what she thought of Piplup.

"Convenient that he's mine, then, and not Markus's," Alexa pointed out. "At least I can talk to him."

Daniel had to dip into the conversation as well. "Piplup are naturally independent, and it goes against their genetics to defer to a trainer. Apparently, Rowan chose to give us a wild one." Markus didn't comment on how 'you' was suddenly 'us.'

"This seems to be a day for delays." Markus's distinct talent for stating the obvious was one of the main reasons Alexa had developed her wit. "But at least we know that at least one of us has a born battler."

Daniel had a different opinion. "The outcome was the one that we wanted. It was just a different way of reaching it. Those two know that they're battlers now, and you two understand the basics of actual battles in terms of your participation. You still need to learn how to take care of the Pokémon, though that's a lesson for another day.

"Also, I have to teach you how to alter attacks more comfortably, hopefully letting it become borderline instinctive at some point." Alexa began to tune out at Daniel's tone, but Markus listened raptly.

"The final lesson for today is how to pack your bags, actually," Solidad said drily. At the following groans, she provided an arch look. "I'd like to see you two try to repack one of the bags I'd pack for you. In fact, I'd love to see you try to pack up a tent."

"Moooom," Alexa huffed. "Tents aren't that bad. We can handle it."

Solidad just smiled and led the way back inside and into her storage closet.

* * *

"Fine, I give. How do I fold the tent?" Alexa asked a few hours later. Solidad smiled mildly and stepped in, all innocence. The hard glare Alexa shot her seconds later didn't even touch Solidad's irrational pleasure as she passed back the neatly folded material, inside its bag.

"Isn't it adorable how your little Piplup takes after you? He looked just like that when you told him to Bubblebeam."

"Mooooom!"

Solidad teased her daughter mercilessly in the same fashion until Daniel saw fit to step in.

He had Chimchar on his shoulder, having been showing the little simian some of the more basic features of the portable research equipment he carried around. "Solidad, stop wasting time," he said bluntly. "Cynthia wants me to get out of here before the intervention tomorrow, so that no more attention than absolutely necessary is drawn to this area." Privacy seemed to be a big issue to Cynthia all of a sudden, but Solidad chose not to comment.

Markus bounced in with his new backpack on. Solidad and Daniel had given the old, worn-out pack one look and commandeered it, repacking what they deemed necessary into a completely new one, with more pockets than seemed plausible for it's rather diminutive size. "C'mon," he said, excited. "Let's get out of here before my mom changes her mind." Sometimes she smothered him, sometimes she couldn't care less. It was a paradox Markus had never been able to solve.

Alexa compared Markus's current mood with how grumpy he had been earlier around Daniel. When he wasn't spinning conspiracy theories, the boy could be surprisingly effervescent. "Yeah, let's go," she quickly agreed. "Better to get all the goodbyes done now and not have a sleepless night, right?" If Solidad suspected that Alexa was sick and tired of learning how to survive away from towns, she didn't show it.

Daniel watched a few minutes later as Solidad went through the usual trivialities of goodbye with both children on the path. "I'll Fly out to see you," "Call me whenever you can," and the considerably more random "Don't try to eat anything if you don't know it's not a Pokémon." Daniel frowned slightly at that, but Alexa laughed with her mom.

"All ready to go. _Now stop that, Hwaa!"_ Once more, the Noctowl was muttering about dire consequences and headstrong, naïve youth. "No, we'll be fine," Alexa said as Daniel and Markus looked on. "I said we- Thank you for that wonderful mental image." With a distinctly disgusted expression, Alexa raced away to get out of the owl's range.

"I guess we're off," Markus said flatly, and he took off after his friend.

Hwaa grumbled something else, and Daniel shot him a look before following the young trainers more slowly, ignoring Chimchar's sudden meekness.

"Moronic human girl, running off with the prophecy coming around," the old owl hissed. "In the time of her people, they would have listened to my counsel, but _nooooo._ Self-assured, snooty…" He trailed, grumbling, into sleep.

* * *

_Reviews? Feedback? Anything? Well, it can't hurt to ask._


	4. Meet the Pokémon

It was a perfect afternoon on the Twinleaf Path to Sandgem. The calm warmth of south Sinnoh captured the minds of humans and Pokémon alike within the idyllic peace of a spring day. At least, it would have been if not for some youth running rampant with young Pokémon.

"Piplup, just remember not to say anything like that to anyone agai- _are you listening to me?"_

Alexa and Piplup glared at each other. Since Alexa had started lecturing him, Piplup had been studiously ignoring her. He chirped and whistled at her, his way of talking. "I'm not going to listen to someone who doesn't know the first thing about me. Definitely not someone who doesn't know my name."

Alexa stopped dead. "Er, well," she stalled. "I was, uh, meaning to ask you that?" With both Daniel and Solidad calling him by his species name, she had entirely ignored the fact that every Pokémon also has its own name, in the same way as humans.

Piplup blew a big bubble right in Alexa's face. "In case you were actually interested, my name's Iceberg," he hissed at her. "Better you calling me by name than being a nothing without a name."

Iceberg, huh? Well, it definitely fit his icy personality, if not his powers. Alexa considered the adventure formula she was used to. If Iceberg was the team pet, he sure wasn't one that she was used to. "Even if we were to work together, I'm not sure how you would fit in to the tale…" she trailed, to Iceberg's great confusion.

"You can't have read many good stories, then." Daniel jogged out of the trees from the direction of Twinleaf Town, hardly even breathing heavily. "And who's to say that Pokémon even fit in to any of the archetypes? Most of the ancient writers didn't even know Pokémon existed."

Alexa spun around, blushing furiously. A senior trainer, knowing about her adventure obsession! "How did you catch up before Markus?"

Daniel shrugged, and Chimchar squeaked in protest on his shoulder. "All the travelling I've done as a trainer makes me a faster runner than both of you," he explained. "Chimchar, that's quite enough of you on my shoulder. It's getting really uncomfortable." Chimchar, even being slightly smaller than the average, was sufficiently large enough to force Daniel to keep his head bent to the opposite side to give him space. Chimchar responded to his trainer's protest by clambering onto the top of his head, careful not to set any of Daniel's dark hair on fire. The trainer sighed, "One of the most powerful people in Sinnoh has been conquered by a flaming monkey." Daniel was quick to return the Pokémon after that.

This reminded Alexa of one of her questions for the senior trainer. "Where are the rest of your team? You seem to have more than enough Pokémon without being given Chimchar."

"Well," Daniel thought for a moment, "I've left my team and my usual partners back in Snowpoint with my sister. Saurus and Vena I brought along in case we ran in to a dangerous situation, and Saurus doesn't much like Snowpoint anyway.

"As for why I took Chimchar, I thought it would be a good goal to train alongside you two and perform research for your grandfather." Daniel was much better at on-the-spot cover-ups than Rowan. To be fair, he really was interested in the research the Professor sought, and he was ready to distance himself from his former Psychic specialty.

"But you were a Gym Leader. You had fame and power right there in front of you – the smartest trainer of a generation – and you decided to hand it all off to your sister. Now you're travelling with two kids from a backwater retirement home for spent Owners. Your mom must be so proud." Alexa was never exactly proud of the status of her hometown, especially because, with so few children around, the few that there were became everyone's children. Taking a village to raise a child was a nice concept, but it was kind of irritating in practice.

Daniel couldn't quite appreciate the jab at his mother. Celine was the frosty ruler of his household, without a whole lot of leeway for anyone who was different from how she envisioned. He let it go, however, because this really didn't seem to be the time to bring up. Forcing his mind back on track – an acquired skill – he replied, "It wasn't what I wanted. With that much power in my reach, how could I not want more? I am human, after all, not a Pokémon."

Alexa thought about that for a moment; then she remembered why the two of them were still standing around. "Where's Markus? Mister Cynicism usually sticks close to me away from home."

"Is he as distractible as he seems?" Daniel countered. "If he is, he was probably side-tracked by a wild Pokémon just outside the town."

* * *

Meanwhile, Markus screamed out his frustration to the trees a few hundred metres from home. While attempting to get a head start on training with Turtwig, the wild Bidoof he had met apparently made it their personal mission to annoy him to a state of insanity. The two Pokémon were jogging around in circles, with the Bidoof occasionally muttering something which made Turtwig shift his posture.

"You're supposed to listen to me!" Markus pleaded with the Pokémon. "I said attack, not shape crop circles!"

Daniel and Alexa, of course, swooped in exactly as Markus finished roaring his rage to the little quadrupeds. Knowing Alexa's adventure fanaticism, last second rescues like that that were likely to happen _a lot_. "Needing some help?" Alexa accompanied the clichéd line with a grin, which could only earn a dead stare from her best friend. "Oh, come on. You should have been expecting that one."

"Not. The time." Markus's grinding teeth could probably be heard back in Twinleaf.

Leaving Alexa and Markus to their bickering, Daniel pulled out a note-screen and let Chimchar out again so that the little Pokémon could watch. "Bidoof … and Turtwig … training together," he typed out, taking a short video to go along with the caption.

"Oh, so that's what they're doing." Alexa sighed at her friend's ineptitude. "I thought they were having a _dance class._ Can we go now?" Markus gave Alexa an odd look after that statement.

"You might not want to judge too quick. That Bidoof is teaching Turtwig how to take advantage of the balance afforded by having four legs. It's not instinctive for a mobile plant to have any running speed to speak of. If anything, you could take it on as a personal trainer for Turtwig."

Markus couldn't help giving Daniel another suspicious look, which made Alexa facepalm again. She and her mother were doing that a lot lately. He listened nonetheless. "So, Bidoof," he said, trying to sound nonchalant while talking to a creature a fraction of his height. "Would you like to travel around with us? Maybe you could teach Turtwig some more tricks?" He gave Alexa a look. "Could you maybe translate for me?"

Daniel gave the situation a once-over. "Oh, no. Bidoof understands you just fine." The Pokémon was nodding enthusiastically and scurried around its new Owner's legs, sniffing at him.

"So, is it mine now?"

Alexa had another opinion coming for Markus, if he thought that a Pokémon was 'his.' "'It' is a she. And Pokémon aren't 'yours.' The term Owner is just the closest that human language gets to the… the idea of partnership that the Pokémon have with us. My mom told me that; she says Dad told her a long time ago."

"Correct terminology aside," Daniel interrupted, "Markus has a new partner, but no Poké Ball for her. I can grab you a few at Rowan's lab. _And perhaps a muzzle for Alexa's little chatterbox_." Iceberg clamped his beak shut tight, and once more suffered the Death Glare of Alexa for the language he'd been gracing 'poor, slow Turtwig' with.

"Well, I always hoped I'd get to catch a Pokémon before you rushed in, Lexa. So I've already got something out of this journey, and we're not even a kilometre from home." _Even if I'm travelling with someone whose motive is so unclear_, Markus added to himself.

With Daniel satisfied that the ice was broken between them now, though Markus still seemed to give everyone but Turtwig and Alexa suspicious looks, he stayed quieter and let Alexa and Markus do the talking as they all set off for Sandgem once more.

* * *

While Markus all but ignored Daniel, he did shoot Alexa questioning looks, obviously encouraging her to get on with their dare. Alexa once again wondered just how bipolar the resident conspiracy theorist-slash-matchmaker was.

Usually, Alexa's talkative nature plus Markus's gift of gab made conversations between them very animated, but Daniel's presence had the added effect of placing a damper on talking naturally. Markus didn't trust the trainer, and Alexa couldn't think of anything to fill the awkward silence that stretched between the three of them. An obliging Kricketune even played quiet notes to exaggerate the slowly stretching silence.

"So… are you two going to be naming your Pokémon?" Alexa asked eventually. Mostly just out of a need to hear voices, though she couldn't just let the just barely broken ice between Markus and Daniel freeze over again, could she? The suitable irony with Daniel's hometown didn't go unappreciated.

Markus looked down at Turtwig, who romped through the bushes with Bidoof, apparently doing some more agility training. "Don't I have to go through some bonding phase first? Right now, Bidoof seems more suited to name Turtwig than me, and I don't even know how they act well enough to give them names."

"Since Chimchar here is one of the only natural Fire Pokémon in Sinnoh, I'm working on a suitable nickname." Or at least Daniel would be, if other thoughts didn't keep distracting him. Daniel's mind was always more of a scene of chaos than everyone probably believed. Inferno, Chaz, Flare, Flamethrower – that didn't even make sense! And neither did anything else right now…

Alexa began to accustom herself to Daniel's eyes glazing over, leaving him deaf to the conversation around him. It didn't seem to be a habit she had any chance of stopping.

Markus, meanwhile, was suddenly determined to catch up on making friends with Turtwig and Bidoof. "Hey, you two Slowpoke! Try and keep up with me for a change!" Turtwig joyfully ran after his trainer, bouncing every now and again over the pathway, while Bidoof kept a more reasonable pace, hoping to outlast her new Owner. Turtwig was quickly distracted by a tiny insect crawling around on a bush.

Alexa jumped as a Pokémon she hadn't yet heard speak made a derisive noise behind her. "Stop acting like such a Zigzagoon, little Runt," Chimchar told Turtwig disdainfully. Alexa started at the rude use of the term 'runt.'

"I'll act like whatever I like, Burns Warlike!" was Turtwig's reply. He quickly forgot about the argument, however, and strode over to a new flower to sniff it.

Alexa took discipline into her own hand, knowing that Daniel couldn't. "Look, Burns Warlike or whatever your name is," she said to the little monkey on Daniel's shoulder. Again. Daniel popped back into reality with a blink as Chimchar shifted and jumped off, walking over to Alexa. "I don't know what Iceberg might have told you about correct language, but humans consider it rude to call another creature 'Runt'."

"I'm not insulting him; Runt is his given name." Chimchar bent his head in deference to the human, but not without a glint of rebellion.

Turtwig looked up from the next grassy patch which had gotten his attention. "It's true, you know. My parents aren't the most creative namers, and I was the smallest of the litter. I can't wait to get a new name. Ooh, berries!"

Daniel, meanwhile, recorded everything Alexa said along with every tiny detail about each noise and motion the Pokémon made. He had another ulterior motive to agreeing to take this particular job. And no one was likely to realize when Daniel had an ulterior motive except his parents.

Markus came bounding back to check on Turtwig. "I just realized something," he said, as cheerful as if this was just a daytrip to Sandgem. "We're going to be just in time to hear today's Story."

Alexa could only sigh. "We've heard all of them before, Mark."

"So? They're fun to hear each time. Let's just hurry."

"You want me to hurry? Well, just try to keep up, then!" Alexa raced off, completely forgetting Iceberg, who stumbled after her on his tiny legs.

"Taxi! Taxi! My ride was jacked!" he called. Daniel scooped him up and followed the now running Markus at his own pace.

* * *

Sandgem Town was a Michina settlement at one time, and the home of ancient traditions long before researchers began to settle there. The Storytellers were always the biggest attraction, for both children and adults.

Three generations of female Storytellers told the children of the time a story each evening. The most elderly one – the teacher – was to remember the tale and teach the youngest to tell it; the middle woman – the speaker – was to improve the story and tell the bulk of the facts, as well as collect new stories; the youngest was basically an assistant, learning the trade and assisting her elders.

When Alexa and Markus skidded in, a large crowd of children and youth had already gathered to listen to the Story. After all, the Storytellers always made it interesting, no matter how many times someone had heard the story.

"Well, my birdies, what story should we relive tonight?" the Eldest asked. Her silver hair shone in the setting sun as she made herself comfortable.

The middle woman, standing and looking over the crowd, returned the question. "Well, my dear, our native professor picked out some new trainers today. He was gone quite a long time finding them, I hear. Perhaps, if they are in the audience, we should tell them why the Pokémon they will meet are even seen by humans." All of the Storytellers were fully aware that Rowan considered them terrible gossips, and they played up the role for all it was worth.

Markus picked Turtwig up to give him a better view.

"A long, long time ago," the young girl started, waiting to the side.

"Before we humans had learned how to cease fighting," the elder interjected. "Before we even knew that war was wrong." It was the benefit of the oldest Storyteller that she could provide commentary and generally irritate her subordinates.

The middle woman, used to the interruptions, took her main body of the story. "In that time, the society of Pokémon lived completely separate from the wars the humans wrought. That is, the humans didn't know that powerful and sentient creatures existed in the seas, skies, and lands, but those creatures felt the repercussions of the wanton destruction."

"Oh yes. It was a terrible time for such peaceful, innocent animals. The skies would light on fire without warning, and thousands of Pokémon died." The younger children gasped as the eldest one interrupted again. She was always much into the tiniest gory details of whatever story was told.

"I've been wondering why parents let young kids come to hear these stories," Markus whispered to Alexa.

Alexa had a reply ready. "Probably because they don't know the stories by heart like the Storytellers do."

"When the Pokémon had all had enough, they gathered together to figure out what to do."

"'We must eliminate the humans ourselves' is what the large and powerful Pokémon said," the teacher took her line. She spoke in a low, throaty voice for her role.

The youngest said her part. "But the small, friendly Pokémon disagreed: 'We should go to them and talk' was what they said."

"Within hours, all the Pokémon had taken sides between the two groups, and they quickly discovered that they were evenly split." The speaker had taken up the narrative part. "For long days and nights, they debated, talked, cajoled, argued, disputed, and pondered among themselves.

"They might have never reached any decision at all until the sky fell above them, but that all changed when an immortal Pokémon decided that the ruminating had gone on long enough." Alexa's head spun from all the synonyms in the last few seconds. How did these ladies remember all of them!

The teacher rose and told her part of the story with relish. "Great and terrible it was, large enough to blot out the moon, but lit with a radiance from within. Or so they say.

"When it landed among the small, mortal beings on the ground, they quaked in fear, for creatures of permanence are as different from us as we are from a dead leaf: brief, inconsequential." She always loved playing up the story for all it was worth.

"It looked at the mortals; they looked back. 'You have spoken of your dealings with the humans for a long time, my children' it told them." All three women spoke the voice of the immortal Pokémon together, creating a manifold female voice. "'You have set two paths for yourselves, but I have a third path for you to consider.' For you see, little ones: the immortal had thought long and hard about this dilemma, and its vast experience presented more options to it." Alexa thought it a bit much that the Storyteller was now interrupting herself, but she found herself gripped in the simple story.

Daniel, trotting past on his way to the laboratory, shook his head at the pack of children, listening to superstitious stories from the depths of time.

"When the immortal spoke again, the Pokémon also saw its third path. 'I think that you should go to the humans,' it said. 'Do not make war on them; they have had enough of that already. Instead, show them the battling peace you live in. Slowly convince them that they would be happier living the life you live. For as long as it takes, present yourself to them when possible and compete with them in strength, tactics, and tenacity.'"

With her turn over, the silver-haired lady returned to her seat. The middle-aged woman finished, "After more discussion, all the Pokémon agreed to follow the immortal's instructions. More of their number were certain to lose their lives before the humans finally learned, but their determination was unmatched. To this day, our friends and partners in the wilderness do not believe that their work is done, and so they continue to compete with us humans whenever we leave our nice safe cities."

Every child applauded deafeningly, Markus and Alexa most of all. "I always love those stories," Markus said.

"Yes. It's the only time when you aren't as pragmatic as a computer system."

Both friends jumped when Daniel spoke behind them, "Well, the purpose of those stories is to make you suspend disbelief for the duration. By the way, Alexa, Iceberg has gone ahead to your grandfather's lab."

Alexa cursed, and Markus snorted. "I knew I was forgetting something!" Alexa was off and running for Rowan's lab before anyone could speak.

"Isn't it interesting how Iceberg is 'something' and not 'someone' now that it's Alexa in question," Daniel stated.

"Sure." Markus headed after Alexa. Daniel couldn't fathom quite why he was getting the cold shoulder from Markus, though he was certain he'd figure it out, given time.

Now he just had to hope he could get back to Rowan's lab before the young Pokémon tore the place apart, with or without their partners' help.

* * *

Too late.

While Iceberg and Bidoof laboriously dragged a tub of Pokémon delicacies from Rowan's in-lab kitchen, Turtwig and Chimchar manned the remote, flicking between channels in a search for something to watch. They'd already tried the books on the shelves, but without human eyes, the charactery was too complicated for them to make out.

"Discoveries made-"

"The National Case, as it is being called-"

"Threats were made against-"

"Johto Champion Lance, who claimed that everything is under control in-"

Turtwig leaned on the channel switch button. "News, news, and more news! Humans really are compulsive about keeping up to date."

"Come on! That can't be _all_ that's on. My mother said something about humans watching scenes that are made inside a computer, without any real-world people at all. Maybe we could find one of those?" Iceberg pretended that he was more knowledgeable than the others, but his mother had almost never been in a human house.

Bidoof sniffed the air yet again. "I'm not sure we should be doing this," she said cautiously. "It feels like we're violating the tall trainer's trust, running around like this."

"What harm can we do? If we hear someone, we'll be able to clean up before anyone even knows what happened." Chimchar, confident in his adeptness, pulled Turtwig off the button. "Is this what you were talking about, Iceberg?"

"What is all that racket?" A voice from upstairs froze all four Pokémon in their tracks. The TV continued to blare some ancient cartoon about spies in school, whatever that was.

"I knew this was a bad idea from the start," Turtwig said, very quietly.

* * *

"Grandpa, it's not like they broke anything!" Alexa arguing heatedly with the Professor could be heard as soon as Markus and Daniel walked in.

"I knew I shouldn't have left them loose," Daniel muttered. Markus nodded mildly, following the voices into a large room with four dejected Pokémon sitting in a line.

Rowan seemed livid, for reasons unknown. It probably had something to do with the priceless manuscripts littering the floor. "You shouldn't leave them out like that in the first place! At this stage in their life cycle, they have to learn that behaviour like this gets them in trouble."

"Isn't discipline a trainer's job?" Markus wondered aloud. Rowan ignored him, and Alexa started off just a second after him.

Alexa, being knowledgeable of a language probably beyond her grandfather's understanding, could never understand why Rowan insisted on seeing Pokémon as animals like the dull cows or sheep which lived on small farms. She could never get them to say anything interesting, and it made her go ballistic when someone referred to a Pokémon like a set of graphs on a screen.

"'Life cycle', Grandpa?" she started quietly. Markus backed out of the room very quickly, and Daniel decided to follow his lead. "I think you have the wrong experience here. Would you say that a human has a 'life cycle' so easily? You got three of these Pokémon from Cynthia herself, but now they are mine, and Daniel's, and Markus's, and we will punish them _as we see fit._ Got it? Good." Markus couldn't hide his surprise when Alexa simply motioned the Pokémon to follow her and left the room. Generally, she completely steamrolled anyone who bothered her like that.

"Daniel, if you have any more lessons for us, they're waiting until tomorrow. We're going to bed right now, before I have to explode."

"Nice work, Professor," Markus remarked before following her. "Now I hope that stubbornness doesn't come from your side of the family."

Alexa and Markus disappeared upstairs, leaving Daniel and Rowan. "Get used to it. It's their job to grow stronger and learn more, not ours," Daniel told Rowan.

"It would have been nice to have some power over those Pokémon, though," Rowan remarked.

Daniel's expression turned dark. "Don't aggravate me as well." Scientist he might be, but Daniel's respect for his friends and partners ran deep.

After Rowan left as well, Daniel headed outside and let both Vena and Saurus out to stretch. "We have a long way to go, my friends," he murmured, as he patted Saurus. "I'm not sure what Cynthia was thinking, but heroics aren't going to be happening any time soon."

* * *

_Reviews, anyone? Anyone? If you loved the story, I'd like to hear about it. If you loathed the story, I want to hear about that too._


	5. Safety Failure

"Where are we headed first?"

Alexa was all business the next morning, waiting impatiently to leave Sandgem as fast as possible. She and Iceberg were raring for battles and experience. Their excitement had built overnight to the point that Alexa rose well before dawn, which was so odd that Markus had checked her for illness.

Daniel, meanwhile, sat patiently, waiting for Professor Rowan to _get back here with the Pokédexes._ As always, his brain and his body were not exactly in sync. "Oreburgh City is the only League Gym we can reach easily before you two are ready to become certified as trainers."

Markus looked up from where he and Turtwig played on the carpet. "My dad's told me about the certification thing," he said. "How does it work again?"

Before Daniel could do more than open his mouth to reply, Rowan finally bustled in with the Pokémon Indexes that had been made for Alexa and Markus to enter information into. Portable touchscreens with near limitless data storage, with carefully numbered and named entries in preparation for rookie users.

"You two both know that this sets you up as researchers in your own right, correct?" he asked seriously. Alexa nodded slowly.

"Daniel will teach you how to record data as soon as you have data to enter. As long as I get an end result of new information, you two can train towards any goal you wish."

Alexa snatched hers. "Great, let's ditch this dump." Before anyone else could speak, she was out the door in the direction of Jubilife City.

Markus huffed and rose to hurry after her. "Lexa, you have to wait up!"

Daniel nodded to Rowan once. "I'll see you." Daniel's family wasn't a group for social niceties.

"Please be careful that they don't break all my equipment."

Smiling, Daniel headed out. He had much bigger worries than research equipment. Anyway, Pokédexes were near enough to indestructible.

* * *

Alexa hurried far ahead of Markus, as always. He always travelled much more sedately than her, when they had any travelling to do. Daniel strode along at middle distance between them, gaining on Alexa with his long legs.

Turtwig bobbed alongside his trainer. The little Pokémon had a marching beat for himself, just for fun. The quirky style of his Pokémon as he wobbled and waved his stubby legs made Markus laugh.

Eventually, Markus picked up his pace and Alexa slowed somewhat so that all three of them were walking in a group. Then Daniel picked up where he had wanted to continue earlier. "You two both know about the League regulation for trainer licensing, right?"

Markus yawned. He hadn't really slept too well with all the excitement. "My dad mentions that sometimes. Stuff about proving abilities." In fact, it had been explained to him, in excruciating detail, on multiple occasions. And then filtered out a few thousand times faster.

"Indeed," Daniel agreed. "Well, Trainers can only be licensed by someone who has been recognized by the Champion herself as being worthy of Gym Leader status. Exceptions are made on occasion, but usually an Owner is required to have partnered with six Pokémon and trained at least one to evolution."

Alexa took her attention off of single-mindedly walking at maximum speed while still staying with the group. "My mom always said that the person giving out the License just had to like the Owner they were certifying."

"That's part of it." Daniel had been unaware of how much they already knew. He supposed now that it was sort of obvious, since they did live in a town of the most certified trainers alive. "Gym Badges also work the same way: even if someone can solve the puzzle and defeat the Leader, the Badge might not be awarded because the Leader believes that the trainer doesn't exhibit their favoured trait."

Markus gave a deep sigh. "It sounds really complicated," he whined.

Alexa frowned at him. "Of course it's complicated! Laws have to be full of exceptions, or they don't work right."

"You just enjoy dumbing things down for Markus, don't you, Alexa?" Daniel pointed out.

"Someone has to."

"The laws are considerably more complicated than that, designed by generations of government to ensure that only the most moral people can hold permanent power-" Daniel was in full swing very quickly, and Markus started miming gagging motions – he loathed politics in any and all forms. Iceberg covered his… ear holes, wherever they were, and Turtwig started whistling a familiar tune through his solid jaw.

Alexa walked in staunch silence until Daniel began to change topic and switch gears into a treatise on the Nation's founding. "All right, Mister Know-It-All, we get it. No need to talk our ears off. Which you seem to have already done to Iceberg."

"Excuse me?" Iceberg peeped.

Markus sighed with relief and ambled over to where Turtwig had been distracted again. He leaned down over the young pine his Pokémon had found. "Hmmm, what do you think of the name Gymno?"

Turtwig responded with a sidelong glance, and then went back to sniffing the fragrant branches.

Alexa thought for a moment, and then snorted. "Trust you to come up with a name related to taxonomy, Mark."

"What?" Markus asked. "He's got his own little gymnosperm up on his back, and it'll get more obvious later. I'm not going to name him Angio or some totally unfitting name."

Daniel had a thoughtful expression on. "You know that Pokémon aren't even classified into the three Kingdoms, right?" Of course the other two did, it was common knowledge. "It's thought that they split from life's common ancestor long before multicellular organisms developed on our branch of the evolutionary tree."

"We're just fine without an explanation-obsessing travelling companion," Iceberg remarked snidely. "Humans; always obsessed with knowing where they came from." They were always trying to answer the Blaziken-Egg question, too. Not only wanting to know where they came from, but where everything else came from.

Chimchar scrambled over and gave Iceberg a friendly whack. "Well, it's not like the humans have Language anymore, so they can't just ask. Well, she can, I guess." He glanced over at Alexa. 'Language' was a slang term among Pokémon for what the humans called Michina.

"Why do I think that the Pokémon know more than they're telling?" Daniel wondered.

Alexa had long ago learned to tune out the inane arguments that went on all day between coexisting Pokémon species. It was better not to get her human values involved. "They're just arguing theology, Daniel."

"Seems sort of mature for the Pokémon equivalent of small children."

"You'd be amazed how smart they can be." Alexa sighed. "Their vocabulary is pretty wide, too. Maybe a little too wide." A brief glare at Iceberg rounded out the statement, along with Iceberg's sideways evil eye.

Markus bounced back into the conversation. "Ooh, there's an evil look from Iceberg." He giggled and picked the newly named Gymno up. "Cover your ears, we're about to get bombarded!"

Iceberg just handed out arch looks to everyone, managing to seem menacing despite being a tiny navy blue penguin with miniature legs. "I'd like to see any of you pull that off," he muttered.

Alexa just looked away. "I need to find you some other team members," she told him. "Maybe they can make you a little mellower."

Daniel, now that he had more information to give, began to speak again. Markus covered his ears, theatrically twitching his eyes. "You have a unique situation, Alexa, because you can talk to the Pokémon before capturing them. Most trainers can't convey their thoughts or feelings to Pokémon except with a connection only achieved through long stretches working together, except with the Capture Styler."

Daniel seemed to trail off then.

"And?" Alexa asked. "Was there a point to that monologue?"

Daniel frowned a bit. "You probably know all this without me explaining." He spoke so quietly Alexa almost didn't hear him. He really hadn't meant anyone to hear, actually.

On the other side of Daniel, Markus excitedly motioned for Alexa to say something. After the briefest of Death Glares, Alexa turned back to Daniel, smiling.

"Well, I'm sure it would have been just as interesting as everything else so far today." Why Alexa's voice was suddenly sugary sweet, Daniel would probably never know, but Markus applauded silently. Alexa's face burned as she reconsidered what she'd said.

Alexa quickly turned away to hide her blush. "Iceberg, want to go find some other friends?"

Iceberg stared at his trainer. He knew exactly what she'd just been doing; he'd seen it enough times back at home. Alexa, though, was especially bad at it. "Very well, if you insist," he chirped grandly.

"Lexa! I'm going too," Markus called as Alexa raced off again.

Daniel let out Chimchar to keep him company. The little ape looked down the path at the retreating backs of the others, but shrugged and hopped onto Daniel's shoulder. "They're both incredibly impulsive," Daniel told the lanky little monkey matter-of-factly. "It's a wonder that one could be more impulsive than the other."

* * *

"Lexa, that was awesome!"

"What that _was_ was awkward. Though I'll admit that I appreciated the spur-of-the-moment irony. And now it's your turn!" Alexa gleefully pointed at her friend.

Markus immediately became very interested in the trees bordering the narrowing path. "Let's just look for some Pokémon," he said, blushing and distractedly twiddling his fingers.

"Aww, you're turning red! Isn't that just adorable!" Alexa laughed and spun in the middle of the path. Now that she had completed her role in the dare, she was prepared to push Markus into his whether he liked it or not.

"Mwor? Ffffft, ffffft!" Alexa tripped over a Pokémon nest and landed right in front of a Shinx.

"Oh yeah? Well, buddy; I've got words for you about nesting in the middle of a people path-" Alexa quickly covered Iceberg's beak before he said anything especially rude.

Groaning, but still not letting Iceberg speak, Alexa lifted herself into a sitting position. The Shinx hissed again, sounding curious. Alexa spoke first, "I'm really sorry about your nest. And I'm really sorry about my partner's little motorbeak. Would you like us to fix it for you?"

Markus let Bidoof out and asked her to train with Gymno for a bit. "You can travel with us," he remarked as he tried to give an impression of complete disinterest.

Shinx considered it for a moment. To give himself more time, he sat down and carefully washed his paws. "I was going to move soon, anyway." Now that he wasn't panicking at the sight of a falling human several times his size, Shinx sounded very calm, even a bit calculating. "I'd be glad to see the world while helping a human trainer."

Alexa jumped up with excitement. "But," Shinx continued, "I want to know that you see my value. Battle, please."

Bidoof looked over and sniffed. "All Shinx act like that," she told Gymno wisely. "So aloof and cold."

"I'm sure he'll act different once we get to know him," Gymno said, always the optimist.

"The Rattata does not 'get to know' the Pidgey," Bidoof murmured. "Not unless it means to be eaten. Now: time for more jogging! Chop-chop!"

* * *

Daniel only saw the end of Alexa's first 'real' battle. Shinx put up a good fight, especially for such a young Pokémon, but an Electric Pokémon's nature, designed for surprise attacks and quick retreats, really isn't much use without powerful attacks.

"What's the chess term?" Alexa asked the universe in general. "Checkmate?"

Shinx picked himself up and ambled over to Alexa. He immediately bent to his front knees in an approximation of a bow. Human leaders, human customs, as mother always said. She gave him a nervous sort of giggle. "Come on, get back up. We've got a ways to go yet today."

Shinx immediately rose up and stood tall. With a flick of his tail and the whip crack of a tiny lightning bolt, he led the way up the hill towards Jubilife.

"There's some data for you, Alexa," Daniel said.

"I'm sure it's all already in there." Alexa yawned as she walked away after her new Pokémon.

Markus had whipped his new Pokédex out of his pocket already and searched up Shinx. "Um, Lexa?" he said. "There's no data in here at all except name and index number."

Alexa stopped dead. "He didn't give us any information?" she asked slowly, suddenly parched. "Not even a picture?"

Daniel shook his head like they were children. "That's exactly the point. As researchers, you're expected to draw your own conclusions and enter your own data with minimal assistance. In this case, you're being quite literally guided to each location, doing almost no work."

"Daniel," Markus warned, his eyes flicking between Daniel and Alexa. He considered himself quite magnanimous for this brief warning, of course.

"Don't," Alexa flared up immediately, "patronize me_._ If you're our info well, then why weren't we told before that we're being set loose on the region with no information to guide us? Did my mother know? Because she never would have allowed this." She stepped closer and closer to Daniel, until she was glaring right up into his face. After a moment, Daniel stepped back and turned away, leaving Alexa to follow Shinx at last. Not exactly psychological high ground.

Markus sighed in relief. "Good, she kept her cool."

Daniel exhaled as well. He asked, "What happens when she doesn't keep her temper?"

"Hospital trips." Markus looked a little haunted. "She always regrets it afterward, and the poor Sandgem kids didn't hold it against her, but she's more of a doer than a thinker."

"Thank the gods she's under control, then." Daniel considered Markus again. The boy's flip-flopping temper seemed to have flopped into a safe zone with Alexa's explosion. For that matter, he always seemed a little more subdued if Alexa was angry. "I suppose her temper is just as explosive as mine, then. She just boils over much faster."

Markus kept a diplomatic silence. Celine and Candice's temper tantrums were legendary among the battling community, or so his father had once told him. To hold his own with the two of them, Daniel must have his own fiery temper. Perhaps it was a familial thing.

Daniel sighed and started walking again. Up ahead, and out of earshot, Alexa had started conversing with Iceberg and her new Shinx. She still looked sort of angry. Maybe it was the stomping feet and hair pulling. "Has your father ever explained how youths are sent on their journeys, Markus?" When Markus, still silent, just barely shook his head, Daniel continued, "It's a complex mix of safety and risk. If the child is sent without a guide and on their own, their caretakers are bound to provide them with supplies and survival training, and they're given an Index filled with information on the different terrain and Pokémon they'll meet. In a larger group like this, with a skilled trainer travelling with a couple of new trainers, the playing field is levelled to put you on par with every other starting trainer. Many would even say that you two still have a distinct advantage over most trainers."

"So you're telling me that that's why we've got so little preparation or information?" Markus knew that there was a risk associated with travelling; there were a couple of big stirs each winter when a traveller froze to death in the mountains or on the way to Snowpoint City. There were reasons that trainers were expected to keep active communication devices on them at all times. "Because that's the reason Lexa exploded. Safety's a big deal for her." And Solidad was a great supporter of a less risky model for the travelling.

Daniel nodded. "Exactly. In fact, if anyone other than the Professor had asked me to travel with you, I would have been forced to refuse because there's so little risk for you." Risk was exactly the idea with this trip, of course, probably a lot more than most other trainers. But they wouldn't be aware of that for a long while yet. Yet another oversight by Rowan that Daniel had to gloss over. He was keeping track to berate the man later.

"Wow. I wouldn't have expected a level playing field to be such a big deal. Alexa definitely doesn't know that; we've lived our lives entirely risk-free back home."

Daniel sighed again and shared a tired look with Chimchar. "I'm going to have to try to talk to her about this, then. What do you think I should tell her to get her back to normal?"

Markus flushed bright pink as some completely hormonal part of his brain realized who he was talking to. He thought seriously about the question for a moment, not really caring where his eyes drifted… except there, definitely _not_ there. "What's the most beautiful thing you've seen in the wilderness?"

* * *

"Alexa?"

"I don't want to talk to you right now; unless you want to end up with a broken jaw."

Daniel shrugged and joined Shinx, who sat primly on a mound of bracken. Alexa paced around and around in the middle of the path, apparently trying to figure something out.

"This is the greatest chance of my lifetime. I get out of Twinleaf with as much help as I could hope for. But to not inform me of everything I need! I should go back and give Grandpa some harsh memories and then head straight home to get Mom's answer. But if I do that, this opportunity will not come again. I should forgive this and move on. Then _Daniel, _dirty great deceiver…"

"Sorry to interrupt this fascinating soliloquy," Daniel deadpanned, "but I would like to interject and offer my advice."

Markus, standing on the other side of Alexa's circle, chewed his lip as he tried to translate what Daniel had said. Alexa got the gist of it, though. "Fine. Just say it."

"Have you ever seen sunrise on the slopes of eastern Mount Coronet? The pristine beauty of the snow as the dawn sun lances off the peaks?" Daniel had specifically selected one of the most remote spots in the region for a reason. He let the memory of the moment drift over him, ignoring the other parts, like the biting cold of the mountainside and how he'd nearly frozen to death the night before.

Such an unexpected topic change brought exactly the result Daniel had been seeking. Of several witty retorts Alexa had made ready, she didn't have a response to a statement of beauty. She settled for, "Of course I haven't. Whenever we leave Twinleaf, it's by Flight."

"And what about witnessing daily life in the depths of Eterna Forest?"

"Is there a reason you're referring to the farthest wildernesses of Sinnoh? Wait, Mark put you up to this, didn't he?" Markus shook his head and backed away quickly when Alexa turned to face him. When she continued bearing down on her friend, Markus closed his eyes and covered his face.

Daniel swiftly covered for Markus. In the best way he could without lying. "Whether it was Markus's idea or not is not my concern or yours. My point is that you will never see any of this cooped up in your little town. Experience is entirely a factor of risk, no matter what experience you seek."

Markus tentatively opened one eye and saw Alexa standing stock-still. "Apparently, we've got this a whole lot better than most people, because they have to go it all alone. You should be grateful that we've got this much help."

Alexa, cowed in the face of logic – well, some sort of logic – relaxed and considered again. "Daniel," she chirped. "Are you saying that Sinnohi are the people with the most experience? No other region has anything quite the equivalent of the risks on the Snowpoint Peninsula."

Markus clapped. "That was a quick turnaround. Let's go now."

Alexa and Markus headed off again, with their Pokémon in tow. Daniel stood, flabbergasted, for a moment. "I wasn't done yet," he told Chimchar, bemused. Chimchar shrugged.

"Yeah, you're right. Better an easy victory than a drawn-out battle." Daniel followed the two friends at an easy pace, passing them by within moments.

"Don't forget to enter all that info on your Pokémon!" Daniel reminded them cheerfully.

"See you in Jubilife!" Chimchar called jubilantly to the other Pokémon from his position on his trainer's shoulder.

"Unfair advantage!" Iceberg squealed, tripping over his feet yet again.

Shinx washed his paw for a moment as Iceberg got back up. "I concur," he purred. "Tall Trainer's long legs could get him anywhere faster than any one of us."

Gymno weighed in. "Pretty good name I picked for him, huh?"

"Just because he's freakishly tall doesn't mean it's a good name." Iceberg was beginning to learn the Ancient Art of Snark from his trainer.

Alexa leaned down to head height for the Pokémon to join their conversation, leaving Markus oblivious. "Just so I'm sure: you guys know that Daniel is incredibly tall for a human?"

Several bemused nods.

"We saw lots of Sandgem people from inside your Granddad's lab," Gymno explained. "Daniel was waaaay taller than any of them. And skinnier, too," he added, an afterthought. "Is he healthy?" the turtle asked suddenly.

Markus, who had walked far ahead of them, had to stop and wait while the conversing group caught up to him. Flipping his hair coyly – for practice, he'd need it for when he went through with flirting with Daniel – he asked what Alexa and the Pokémon had been discussing.

"They noticed that Daniel looks unusual among humans," Alexa explained, gesturing at the trainer, who was well ahead by now.

Markus raised one eyebrow. "So? He's not exactly difficult to pick out of a crowd, with his height and his hair and his eyes…" he trailed off, staring into the distance. "What do you think of my 'lovestruck' face?" he asked abruptly after a moment.

"Yes, yes, he's a glamourous celebrity, _I get it_. But don't you think that it's just the teensiest bit odd that Pokémon notice differences between humans but we don't see differences between Pokémon?"

"It's just how our bodies are built, you know that." Markus launched into a monologue: biology was a passion for him, polar opposite to Alexa's adventure stories. Alexa took the blast of information stoically; she was used to these. "Pokémon as a Kingdom are much more reliant on scent and sound to attract and find mates. Among humans, who are much more visual, the differences have to be more glaring, since our interests are often more physical than another animals'."

Shinx gazed up at Markus, his head turned at a rather impressive angle. "I suppose it is rather amazing what humans will be aware of when they are only around middling maturity." The dry, intellectual voice was conveyed to Markus in a lazy purr.

"Yes, and you're so much more mature." It was ironic, Alexa thought, to be called out for being overly mature by the Pokémon equivalent of a small child.

Shinx slowly closed one eye. "I am older than you assume," was his reply. "You'd be surprised how deceptive a Pokémon's physical age is."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Alexa called belligerently after the cat as some insect distracted him.

Markus felt just the tiniest bit marginalized by the obvious conversation that he could only hear half of. "Are they having another philosophical conversation?"

Alexa pouted at Shinx's retreating tail end for a moment. "Shinx was, but I'm not sure about the rest of the pack." She listened to the other three Pokémon for a moment, back behind them.

"Fish are best!"

"No, tubers!"

"You mere mortals cannot hope to compete with cedar bark!"

Alexa deflated slightly. "They're discussing food."

"Anything sound good?"

"If you're fond of food not meant for human consumption, yes."

* * *

"You'd be amazed how intelligent Pokémon can be with machinery," Daniel remarked when he spotted his charges wandering up the open path with their little entourage of Pokémon. "This little Torch of intelligence here is going to be running my research for me by the time he's an Infernape." And the Pokémon was finally human-named. Obvious in the extreme, but it suited Daniel's preferences for his names.

Iceberg, leaping as high as he could to try and spot the screen, eventually resorted to snatching a beakful of Daniel's pants and slowly shredding it off while Daniel exhibited some of his finer mods. He had long ago created measurement devices that could use pictures instead of physical objects, programmed the Pokédex with immensely more efficient operating systems than the default, and he'd recently added a tiny camera to the device, a feature conspicuously lacking on previous models of the equipment.

Iceberg stomped behind the group irately as Daniel launched into a discussion of mechanics. "Useless exposition," he grumbled. "_We know all this already!_ Well, maybe we don't, but we don't care." Alexa made a _shush_ing motion with one hand from in front of Daniel.

"Really, the Pokédex is only limited by how small you can manage to make the additions," Daniel swiftly explained as he set a pace down the very clear path again. "There's only so much metal available for equipment, and Pokédexes are devices you'll use for your entire life, so you don't want anything less than a non-oxidizing metal." Alexa's eyes glazed over a bit, leaving Markus to listen raptly to every word out of Daniel's mouth as if each were a precious sentiment of limitless importance. She hardly even spared a glance for Markus's sudden attitude switch; it happened often enough. As soon as someone proved they were trustworthy, he was all over his new friend for a little while.

Even if said new friend had the most pointless interests on the planet. Who would ever want an early warning system for space-time disturbances?

Daniel and Markus chattered happily all the way up the rest of the hill to Jubilife City, a conversation so full of the explaining of technical jargon that four Pokémon and one human eventually just stopped processing the words they hardly understood in the first place and trudged on in silence.

For Daniel and Markus, the day-long walk on easy terrain served to establish the rapport Daniel had not been expecting to form at least until the arrival in a city housing a Gym. Markus had at least a basic interest in the mechanics of the limitless data storage device he now owned, and Daniel was a reservoir of knowledge no one had ever thought to seek. A meeting of minds that was liable to drive Alexa insane within days.

* * *

"Alexa? Does she do this often?"

"Only if she's seriously bored. We must have tired her brain out. _Lexa, we're here!"_

"Oh, thank the gods!" Alexa shook herself out of her stupor and raced her friend down the path to the biggest city in the region.

* * *

_If you've got the time, please leave a review! I promise to personally thank you if you do, and give you a virtual slice of banana bread._

_I'm thinking about having Iceberg, Torch, Gymno, and the other Pokémon feature as 'reader surrogates'. Basically, fourth wall d__enters. And just random humour, as well. So there's a topic you can review on?_


	6. Thieves in the Night

_Arieluma, reader!_

_Hm? Late update? I don't know what you're talking about._

_This chapter took a good long while to start. Deciding how, exactly, to frame the introduction of several major worldbuilding points was difficult. That's my excuse for the 60-day wait, and I'm sticking to it. More information on my current writing habits can be found on my profile page._

_I think I've finally solidified Alexa, Markus, and Daniel's characters to my satisfaction, so hopefully they'll be consistent now._

_PeterPokéfreak will attempt to write faster in the future. Thankyou and enjoy._

* * *

"Wow. Big." Alexa and Markus were rendered almost speechless by Sinnoh's largest metropolis. Rising over the surrounding ring of forest, the city itself was dwarfed by trees itself. A few absolutely gigantic conifers rose like sentinels above the highest buildings of the city.

"I know. Aren't those the most amazing trees?" Daniel asked, entirely missing the point. "Apparently they were planted when the city was first built."

Alexa just walked away towards the city's outskirts. Markus stayed on the top of the narrow hill that marked the farthest boundaries of the metropolis. "The amount of life in there feels like standing outside an open oven," he said to the general surroundings. He'd never been anywhere near this number of people. The ridiculous concentration of humanity was like a strong wind.

Daniel sighed and lead Markus farther in. "That's just the city's microclimate," he explained. "Due to the concentration of warm bodies, lights, tall buildings, and little organic material, large cities often produce temperatures considerably above the average in the surrounding area."

"No, I don't think that's it." Markus frowned. "You haven't noticed any difference."

"Are we going to get to the city or not?" Alexa called from up ahead. "You two Slowpoke are going to leave us in the wilderness at night." Markus couldn't see why; the sun wasn't yet set.

"Speaking of Slowpoke." Daniel pulled out Torch's Poké Ball and tapped the monkey on the nose. "With the number of mobile beings in the city, ordinances require us to keep most Pokémon contained so they don't get themselves stepped on." Or overcrowd an already crowded area with any number of terrible hazards.

Alexa took a peek upwards at the looming buildings. Rather like the trees to the south of Twinleaf, they looked rude and reclusive rather than the inviting life of Lake Verity's surrounding wilderness. "I can see why that would be a good idea," she pointed out, poking Iceberg with his Poké Ball and pulling out one of Daniel's extras for Shinx. Markus did the same for Gymno and Bidoof.

Daniel noticed Alexa's discomfort at the wall of gray stone. "Don't be overwhelmed by the edge of the city," he warned her. "These buildings were built when modern settlement of Sinnoh first occurred, and they're meant for function rather than form."

"Isn't that what cities are meant for?" Alexa responded. From her perspective, living in close proximity to so many other humans could have only one purpose: saving space.

Markus was staring at the ground at the foot of the building. "This was made from the mountain that used to be here?" he asked. Daniel nodded and started to move into a lane opening to the Sandgem Road. "How come it's not totally overcome by plants?" Markus pointed out.

Daniel, bored, simply called an answer behind him. "Magic!"

"Do you get the impression that Daniel might possibly maybe be bored of talking?" Alexa said innocently.

"Well, around someone as gloriously uninterested as you, that's not very difficult," Markus retorted.

"Yeah, very funny. Now we'd better catch up to the guide before he disappears in a convenient crowd." Alexa was fully and completely aware of what happened on adventures when a large city was involved.

* * *

The Jubilife City 'roads' were mostly wide walkways between buildings, with the exception of the four roads, one from each of the cardinal directions, which continued the routes coming from other cities. From the Southern entrance, the road to Sandgem Town slid between residential buildings to the wide-open space through the ring of buildings. Some few storefronts peeked over wide lawns and around the elaborately constructed company centres. With no need for office buildings – the workforce of Jubilife used a Cloud system between small computers – each commercial building was elegant and graceful, each being used only for administration and memory banks.

At the very heart of the city, which Daniel made a beeline for, followed by his two charges, a gently sloping hill rose through parkland and meandering pathways to a grove of the biggest trees Alexa and Markus had ever seen.

Both had gawped their way up the road to the park, but now, staring up at the forest giants, their awe peaked. "Are these real?" Markus asked slowly.

"As much as it doesn't appear so, they are," Daniel confirmed. "Giant redwood trees from the near coast of the East Continent."

Alexa peered closer. She could see activity in some of the boughs. After a moment of disbelief, she snorted. "There are apartments in the branches."

Daniel launched into an explanation. Apparently, some trainers liked the different environments for some reason that could probably have involved smaller words, so each city had an area that catered to the wildly varying needs of most trainers. "And seeing sunset from the treetops is the most amazing thing," Daniel gushed after some long expositing. "On a clear day, it's possible to see the Shield."

Both Alexa and Markus stared at him, glassy-eyed.

Another voice from farther away brought the two out of their stupor as Daniel sighed. "Don't mind Danny. You get used to his blabbing after a while." A woman walked up from inside the circle of trees. She wore casual clothes and had a couple of Poké Balls on her waistband, but her somewhat freakishly elaborate purple hairstyle and ornate makeup marked her as other than normal.

"Veronica, how are you?" Daniel asked courteously. "And for your information, I do not blab. I describe."

Veronica rolled her eyes. "Of course you do, honey," she agreed noncommittally. "Which is the terrifying part: you're actually saying something with all those big words.

"I am fine, my darling," she continued, "and I trust that you're having a wonderful time at the beck and call of the professor?" Veronica took great pleasure in imitating Daniel's formal speech whenever possible.

Daniel shrugged eloquently. "There are places I would rather be, but Rowan's assistant is hardly the worst situation I could foresee." Veronica chortled at 'foresee.' Foresight was a common skill among Psychic trainers, one which Daniel showed no sign of possessing, which caused no end of mirth for his contemporaries.

"Now, Veronica, I happen to know that the trainer house is one of the last places you can be found on a broadcasting day. What could Jubilife City's top trainer want with the visiting Owners?" Daniel, as usual, had seen what Veronica wanted spot on.

Before she could reply, Markus interrupted. "Oh my gosh it's Vee," he gushed. Veronica, the leader of all the powerful Owners in Jubilife, filmed the news for the entire region and had various other celebrity appearances. While not on the same teen idol status as Daniel, Veronica was much loved by much of the populace by her stage name, Vee.

She seemed happy to see Markus. "Oh, it's always lovely to meet a fan," she told him graciously. Then she turned back to Daniel and got back on topic. "I was hoping that I'd see someone capable of taking over something important for me," she said tartly. "I wasn't likely to find anyone in there," she pointed back to the trainer house with a thumb over one shoulder, "but thankfully, you're here to pick up the slack." Without further ado, she grabbed Daniel by the arm and dragged him away from the others.

Alexa gave Markus a mock sad face. "You can't expect them all to want to talk to you," she said in a falsely sympathetic voice.

* * *

As soon as Alexa and Markus were out of earshot, Daniel snatched his arm from Veronica's grasp. "What was that for?" he asked, hurt. He hated having people touch him.

"Don't play dumb, honey, it doesn't suit you," Veronica remonstrated him. "And anyway, you're such a twig that dragging you is like carrying a Gastly." Veronica popped a Poké Ball off of her belt and released her Musharna.

"All joking aside, we've got a teensy little bit of a gigantic issue lately," Veronica pointed at a diagram Muun was apparently projecting onto the air. Daniel knew better. The projections of a psychic Pokémon were entirely figments of the viewer's imagination, though it could be guided to produce fairly specific imagery.

Of course, some Pokémon couldn't produce a coherent image to save their lives. "Am I supposed to be looking at a ring of pink with bunches of red polka dots?" asked a bemused Daniel, blinking a few times to see if that changed the projection.

"Yes. Now shut up, honey, and I won't keep you long." A disapproving glare. Daniel smiled benignly and shrugged, backing away a bit to see the whole image easily. Veronica pointed at the diagram again. "This ring is the residential area of Jubilife City, and each red dot is a reported Pokémon theft since the last League meeting." There were red spots scattered haphazardly throughout the city, and a troubling number of them.

Daniel, not trusting his first impression, counted up the spots quickly. "That's over a hundred thefts in forty days, Veronica," he pointed out in a flat monotone. "It's not possible."

"That's what I thought, until I started posting watchers all over the city," the newscaster detailed a few points on the major thoroughfares, and Muun obligingly produced a scattering of green patterns to denote the route of each patrol. The projection now looked like a spastically decorated doughnut. "They told me that a vast number of very brazen criminals with some very powerful Pokémon sneak around the city at night, stealing Pokémon from any facility not locked up totally airtight." Obviously it frustrated Veronica very much, as she pouted at the image and jabbed several of the red points with a long fingernail. Muun made an exasperated grunting sound at his dramatic Trainer.

"So what's your course of action?" Now that they had gotten down to the actual problem, Daniel was all business. "We were warned about the crime rate at the meeting, so you should have had a contingency strategy fully prepared."

Veronica frowned again. "Since when do I ever have anything ready on time?" She pursed her lips. "And even if I had been fully prepared, trainers able to deal with those Pokémon don't just grow like daisies."

"How strong are we talking?" Daniel looked intrigued now. As always, the opponent's power was the clincher of any deal for him.

Veronica pulled out her videocam. "Here." With a lazy action, she tossed it at Daniel, who fumbled to catch it. "There you see one of my top apprentices in battle with one of the thieves. Poor dear never stood a chance."

Daniel watched the footage, nonplussed. "Clumsy ordering and attacking by both sides," he pointed out after a moment, leaning against a short tree. "Basic patterns, and repetitive strikes. I can see your influence on your protégé, though. He's got your dramatic flair."

Veronica twisted a lock of purple hair worriedly. "As you can see from that, I'm in a bit of a bind. Darling Anderson isn't getting his Pokémon back until tomorrow, and I can't cover his shift tonight myself because of an interview I have to take about the crime rate."

"You want me to take it."

Veronica nodded. "Obviously."

"Get some toadie of yours to watch Alexa and Markus, and I'll get on it. After all, you have to make things seem normal for the masses."

"Yep! You know the orders from on high." Veronica did an impression of Cynthia, deadening her voice and staring blankly. "'Everything has to keep stable as we deal with this threat' and all that." Stability in Jubilife City being bustling insanity on the edge of collapse, but Daniel didn't mention that.

"Where do you need me?" Daniel asked, looking back at Muun's diagram.

Veronica gave Muun a dismissive flick, and he resignedly showed a flashing point in the Southwest of the city.

"I'll just go explain what I'm doing to Alexa and Markus, then." Daniel headed back towards the tree.

Veronica thought for a moment, then sent her parting shot after Daniel, "They're not toadies, by the way! They're slaves!" Daniel shrugged, not stopping or turning around.

* * *

When Daniel returned to his charges, he found Alexa and Markus exploring the ring of trees. "They have staircases going up them," Alexa said in wonderment.

"And the centre tree has a tunnel among its roots," Daniel supplied. "Is that a problem?"

Markus popped around the trunk of a particularly wide tree. "Tunnels? Are there Pokémon?"

"Obviously. Now, Veronica's asked me to take care of a task for her, so you two can go explore while I'm away. She'll have someone to keep an eye on you so I don't have any awkward explaining to do to your parents." His task of warning them done, Daniel turned to go off on patrol for his peer.

As he walked away, Alexa and Markus stood in silence for just a moment. "Do you think we're allowed to sleep in the tunnels under the tree?" Markus queried his friend.

Daniel spun around. "You are not getting one of the underground rooms," he said dangerously. "I don't care how high up in the trees we end up sleeping tonight, but I refuse to sleep underground." He headed off quickly after that.

"So," Alexa said after a moment, "want to explore some tunnels?"

For the rest of the evening, Alexa and Markus explored the park, not roaming into the city proper at all. Highlights included their 'discovery' of a 'secret' tunnel that led right into the trainer house connected to the central tree, and Markus tripping over a sequence of small Pokémon right after one another. There was much laughter from Alexa.

All in all, the two of them ran Veronica's apprentice, Anderson, into the ground fairly quickly, and he made a promise not to lose the use of his Pokémon again. Jubilife's protector didn't hold back when she punished her own protégés.

Veronica, remembering that she hadn't told Daniel when he was getting replaced on the watch, had to call him shortly before going on set to tell him that his relief would find him around midnight. The interview went well from her perspective, with her giving little away except promises of safety, and the interviewer not really pressing her for more information. Most of Jubilife broadcasting community was scared of irritating the media giant. She even ended up giving little tidbit warnings unasked for: most of the stolen Pokémon were unevolved, most crime scenes were concentrated in pockets of the city, et cetera.

Daniel had somewhat of a more difficult evening. Jubilife was a vast community of ease and plenty, with many devices constantly connected to the E-network. Tens of hundreds of people each day kept track of their favourite Trainers, Coordinators, and Owners, so it shouldn't have been surprising that Daniel's entrance into the city was reported almost immediately. By the time he left the tree circle – an area reserved for travelling Owners, a mob of fans had formed, waiting silently for his appearance.

The crowd pounced as soon as they saw the Gym Leader, in a not unfamiliar manner: all manner of shrill screeches were to be heard, and objects and limbs were thrust in Daniel's direction in extreme haste. "Excuse me," Daniel said after a moment, and they all quieted down in an instant, eyeing their idol expectantly. "I have business tonight which I have to get on with alone. I would appreciate privacy, at least until midnight." Surely that would deal with them, no matter how rabid they were.

A moment of penitent silence from the mass of humanity, and then, "Well, I'm following you to get to talk to you first when you're done!" It was a young man near the front with a Gallade figurine. One who apparently had no filter for his words. An instant clamour rose up. Apparently, this was grossly unfair, they were the ones here first, and why did Daniel have a right to refuse attention, anyhow? Eventually the screeching rose to ridiculous levels, and Daniel slipped away without much trouble.

Unfortunately, there was another group waiting to intercept him by the time Daniel reached the edge of the park, and another at the very first crossroads on his patrol. The fans congregated wherever Daniel could be heading, and there were various declarations of attraction or idolization better not recorded. By the time the moon rose, Daniel was muttering about how there would be no thefts here tonight; there was far too much noise for it to be safe for them.

In the end, in order to be an effective patrol, Daniel had to resort to cloaking using his Mr. Mime. His preference at that point would have been to knock every fan out with his Alakazam and appropriate any and all Psychic Pokémon memorabilia, but there were nasty punishments reserved for such crimes.

Being so distracted, Daniel almost missed a few attempted thefts, but managed to thwart the Pokémon thieves from a distance, though they always managed to escape his telekinetic traps. When midnight rolled around, he was tired, irritated, and discouraged. The only outward sign of this discomfort was still more exasperated reactions to the knots of fans figuring out how to disable Copier's camouflage techniques. Eventually, stopping just short of casually kneeing one particularly amorous pubescent girl, he flew off back to the Trainer House with Vena. His relief, who had just arrived and been sensed by Copier, was left to clear the crowded streets.

* * *

Done with their explorations, Alexa and Markus nervously took a room in the branches of one of the trees. Markus was fascinated by the running water so high up in the canopy, while Alexa was fascinated by the way the addition to the tree had been designed and built as a part of the forest giant. Everything in the main room was wooden, and the only reason the bathroom was less so was fear of water damage. The flooring was indistinguishable from the frame of the bed, which was attached to the bedside table, and so on. While Markus busily calculated the water pressure required to reach so high up, Alexa lay on her bed with her reading screen propped up by her chest. Iceberg sat at her feet.

"Alexa, do you realize how much energy is required to raise water up here? Or even how they built something so massive so high up?" Markus wondered aloud.

"No, because that's what you're trying to figure out," Alexa said, rolling her eyes. "Actually, I do know how this was built." She returned to her book as Markus gave her an eager glance.

"Really? How?"

"Pokémon."

"You're no fun."

"You're interrupting my reading."

Iceberg sighed at his trainer. "What's so fascinating about a mass of random black splotches?" he grumbled. He had scrabbled up in front of his Owner's face at first, but quickly lost interest in the book.

Alexa ignored him. He had been making comments to this effect since she had started ignoring him when they entered the room. She kept reading. "Wow, talk about dated," she said after a few moments.

Markus, staring out the window to try and guestimate the distance to the ground, turned around. "Now you're distracting me," he pointed out. "But what is it?"

"This book," Alexa complained. "There are maybe three female characters, and only one is actually useful. The other two hide in their homes and do nothing. Dated."

Markus popped onto his friend's bed and looked at the title of the book. "Wow, this _is_ ancient. I didn't know you read things from the Cultural Awakening."

"Awakening is right, if this is a snapshot of what they were awakening from," Alexa huffed. "Seriously, there are nine main characters, and every single one is male. And all the politicians save one are male. What were these people thinking?"

Markus now rolled his eyes. "It was a really long time ago. Anyway, wasn't all that 'ere' and 'thus' language done away with four millennia ago?" Markus was not the greatest historian.

"More like two, but that was still half a millennium before this book," Alexa said, distracted by the pages of adventure again.

The two of them sat in companionable silence for the rest of the evening, occasionally broken by Iceberg arguing over bed privileges with some of the new Pokémon the two Owners had befriended. A Geodude and a Starly had joined the ranks of Pokémon after Markus's little tripping episode, having been least annoyed by the intrusion. Alexa's new Starly ended up relegated to the bedside table after the squabble, and the Geodude attempted to burrow into Markus's bed, a quickly discouraged pastime.

Eventually, trying to stay up and wait for Daniel became a less and less attractive concept, and the two of them went to sleep with all of their Pokémon long before Daniel arrived through the open window, having been guided to the correct room by Vena's telepathic tracking abilities.

"Well, Vena, we might have to fly out of the city at this rate," Daniel told the huge bat. "Hopefully the fires of obsession die down in the morning." The boy raised an eyebrow at Alexa and Markus, sleeping surrounded by a small crowd of Pokémon each. Alexa looked by far more comfortable, cuddling with a fluffy penguin, an electric housecat, and a baby bird, though Starly's beak was digging into her neck a little bit.

Markus, on the other hand, had an earthen turtle, a bucktoothed rodent, and a floating rock sleeping with him. He looked supremely uncomfortable with Geodude on his chest, so Daniel gently woke the living geode and quietly explained the delicacy of human anatomy. The Pokémon was happy to move onto the floor, thankfully.

After cleaning up, Daniel got into his own bed. His vast array of Pokémon, unlike the tiny collections of his companions, remained safely inside his Poké Balls. Letting them out might have made the room collapse.

"Well, we're definitely not sticking around to sightsee," Daniel told Vena, who remained outside for a while. "I'm getting out of this city as soon as those two are ready. Try to get some sleep before morning, will you?" Being generally diurnal, Daniel coaxed most of his Pokémon into resting at night and working in the day, an arrangement not completely comfortable for night hunters like Vena.

"I wonder if Veronica deals with the same sort of rabid fan base?" Daniel mused to himself for a while, until he also fell asleep.

* * *

_Will reply for reviews._


End file.
